The caring constable

"We write this note with a very heavy heart. We have lost another police officer. Toronto Police’s marine unit pulled the body of one of their own from Lake Ontario Thursday morning,” read a Facebook post from the Toronto Police when reporting on the demise of 29-year-old Const Darius Garda, a 51 division crime analyst, on February 3, 2016. His was apparently the second police death that week and the 13th suicide among first responders (employee of an emergency service who is among the first to arrive at and assist during an accident, disaster or attack), in the preceding 10 weeks, as reported on globalnews.ca
Believed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common occupational hazard, in April 2010 Garda had been involved in a shootout that impacted him profoundly. He was among a group of police officers who pursued an erratic driver and cornered him in the Port Lands area, in the vicinity where Garda’s body was found in the water. After the driver clipped an officer with his car, police opened fire and shot 32 rounds at his car. The driver, Wieslaw Duda, a 50-year-old father of two was apparently on medication for schizophrenia.

Const Darius Garda: kind and capable

Although the police watchdog’s investigation ruled a justified use of force, Garda felt "something wrong had happened that a man lost his life,” remembers Mississauga defence lawyer Robert Jagielski who cross-examined Garda at the inquest into Duda’s death. "This police officer was looking at things through the perspective of a human being… I never saw in my career a police officer cry on the stand. But he did cry and it was genuine…The whole courtroom stopped for a bit,” Jagielski was quoted by thestar.com
Yet another news report explained how Garda was 23 years old the night he and fellow officers shot Duda. The young cop returned to work soon after the shooting but avoided talking about the fatal encounter. It took him some time to realize he was having difficulty coping before seeking professional help. "The biggest challenge can be having their condition recognized by the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to avoid facing financial ruin and a mental health crisis,” reported the website adding that a crowdfunding site was set up for him last fall and colleagues collected money to help with his mortgage.
His colleagues described him as a capable and good-natured crime analyst who was caring, sensitive and always quick to flash a smile. "He was empathetic. He could really put himself in other people’s shoes,” thestar.com quoted one of his associates. Even though he was small in build, "he always stood up for people who were being treated unfairly,” recalled another friend. "He was very kind, very soft-spoken,” recalled Catarina Martins who was a fitness instructor with the police service during the early years of Garda’s career. "Physical fitness-wise, he was one of the strongest. A hard worker,” Martins was quoted on thestar.com
Garda studied at Terraview-Willowfield Public School close to his residence where he stayed with his parents and sister. He was a top student, great at math, who always helped other kids with their assignments, childhood friend Travien Perera, a Toronto real estate agent, told thestar.com After attending Wexford Collegiate for high school he studied at the University of Toronto.