A Windsor police officer stabbed during an incident that ended with the death of a city man says "he truly believed he was going to die."
Constable John Paul Karam testified Wednesday during Day 3 of a coroner's inquest looking into the shooting death of Matthew Mahoney, a diagnosed schizophrenic.
Karam was assigned to uniform patrol in downtown Windsor on March 21, 2018, when a call came in about a man with a butcher block full of knives.
He told the inquest that the suspect, later identified as Mahoney, ignored initial requests to stop and speak with the officer as part of the effort to investigate his intentions.
Constable Karam would move his cruiser into a parking lot at Dufferin Place, near Goyeau Street and Wyandotte Street, in hopes of trying to converse with him.
He testified that Mahoney was trying to evade him and ignored his efforts to talk, only saying to the officer, "you have no probable cause to speak with me." Karam says he responded by trying to explain that he was not in trouble, they just wanted to know what was going on and if he needed any help.
The officer told the inquest he was concerned about the number of knives Mahoney had on him and that he was walking toward the McDonalds parking lot, which was heavily populated that morning with vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Karam says Mahoney was "agitated and clearly something was wrong," so he made a hasty decision to draw a line to not let him get to the parking lot. It was at that time he unholstered his taser and stated "you need to stop and talk to me."
At that moment, he says Mahoney dropped the butcher block, turned sprinted toward him, and as he got closer, he noticed a knife in his hand.
Karam says he fired the taser but it had no effect as Mahoney threw 'haymaker-style blows' with his knife hand, aimed at the officers face and head.
As Karam moved back to avoid the knife, he dropped his taser to get his hands up to protect himself before hitting and curb and landing on his back.
He told the inquest that Mahoney was on top of him with more "haymaker-style blows" as he kept his hands up and was kicking to protect himself , saying "I'm certain he was trying to kill me."
Moments later, Mahoney stood straight up and turned his attention as Constable Andre Marentette had fired his first shot. Constable Karam, not knowing a shot had been fired, was able to unholster his pistol and started shooting up at Mahoney from a lying position.
Karam told the inquest he didn't remember feeling anything as his adrenaline kicked in and "sheer terror" took over his body's response.
It wasn't until Mahoney was down and he had holstered his pistol that he felt what was like water pouring down his arm, which tunred out to be blood. Karam told the inquest that he could see the meaty part of his hand, right at his thumb, was severed and open down to his wrist.
He would spent over six hours in the hospital and need 16 stitches to close the wound.
Karam doesn't remember hearing any of the shots being fired as he described being "hyper focused on the knife" and in "utter fear I was going to be killed."
As Mahoney went down a few feet away, Karam testified he heard him say "thank you." When questioned about why he thought Mahoney said that, Karam says "it was obvious to me at that point, his intention that day was to provoke police with the goal of dying of suicide by police."
He would also later find marks from the knife on his police issued ballistic vest.
In his over 11 years as a police officer, first in London and then in Windsor, Karam testified this is the one and only time he's had to fire his pistol in the course of his duties.
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit cleared police of any wrongdoing in the case, concluding the shots that were fired by the officers, which struck and killed Mahoney, 'were justified'.
The inquest into the death of Matthew Mahoney will hear from 18 witnesses.
Once all parties with standing have the opportunity to present their information and ask questions of the witnesses, the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths from occurring in similar circumstances.