The inquest into the fatal police shooting of a Toronto teen released its recommendations Friday, including ways to identify plainclothes officers – but the victim's family says justice still hasn't been served.

The four-person jury made seven recommendations on how to prevent another deadly incident such as the one that claimed the life of Jeffrey Reodica. The 17-year-old was among a group of teens that was chasing another group in a Scarborough neighbourhood on May 21, 2004, before being shot by a plainclothes police officer who arrived in an unmarked car.

Jeffrey Reodica, 17, was shot and killed by a police officer in May 2004. Officers testified that Reodica struggled free from their grasp and lunged at them several times with a knife before being killed.
(Courtesy of the Reodica family)

Among other things, the jury recommended that unmarked police vehicles be equipped with sirens or other identification so that plainclothes officers can be more quickly identified, and that officers have several options for using force readily available, such as batons, pepper spray or stun guns.

The coroners inquest looked into whether the officers identified themselves, whether Reodica was holding a knife when he was shot and whether officers were in danger at the time of the shooting.

But the jury's findings didn't satisfy the family of Reodica, who was shot in the back three times by the officer.

"Well, the recommendations is garbage," said Willie Reodica, the victim's father,

Reodica's family sat through much of the 10-week inquest, listening to the 47 witnesses who testified.

"At least give us some clearcut evidence [of] what really happened," Reodica said.

'Not at all happy' that SIU ruling off-limits

Jury members did not have the authority to reassess an earlier ruling by the province's Special Investigations Unit that cleared the officers of wrongdoing, something the family had sought.

"We're not at all happy in the manner in which the inquest was structured," said Barry Swadron, lawyer for the Reodica family.

"We were told almost from Day One, not withstanding there are lots of answers we needed about the SIU [decision]."

The SIU is responsible for investigating incidents involving officers and civilians that result in injury or death.

The agency took over four months to render a decision in the Reodica case. Typically, its decisions are made within 30 days.

Armbands among recommendations

In addition to the recommendations on outfitting police vehicles to make them more identifiable, jurors suggested that:

• Officers wear armbands or jackets to identify themselves. That stemmed from questions raised during the inquest as to whether Reodica realized the officer who shot him, Det. Dan Belanger, was in fact an officer. Belanger was described by witnesses as having the appearance of a biker, with his casual clothes and shaved head.
• Parents or guardians be notified if police are interviewing a youth. Testimony showed that a number of the teens questioned in the case were interviewed without their parents' knowledge, with some detained more than eight hours at a police station.
• The Ontario Police College reinstate control training about the expandable baton in their curriculum. Officers are issued the batons, but the jury said they should also have required training on when and how to use it.

Reodica lunged with knife, officers testified

Before the shooting, Reodica and other teens were chasing another group of young people in an incident that witnesses said was racially charged.

Two plainclothes officers, Belanger and Det.-Const Allen Love, arrived on the scene.

The officers testified that Reodica struggled free from their grasp and lunged at them several times with a knife before being shot. Reodica was declared brain dead three days later.

Family files civil suit

The family and supporters launched a "Justice for Jeffrey" campaign to seek answers into the tragedy, and are pursuing a civil suit against the officers and Toronto Police Service.

Witnesses have given conflicting accounts as to whether Reodica had a knife, and no fingerprints were found on the weapon.

As well, the size disparity was cited by those who believed the officers should have been punished. Both officers are over six feet and 200 pounds, while the Filipino teen was five-foot-three.

Ontario ombudsman André Marin said in June he would wait until after the coroner's inquest was completed before deciding whether a full-blown review of the incident was warranted.