A Toronto police officer who Tasered a handcuffed man in the back of a police cruiser has admitted he used excessive force, and had no justification for deploying his weapon.

Const. Ryan Kotzer was captured on his in-car camera using his conducted energy weapon (CEW) in "drive stun" mode on a man he was transporting to a temporary shelter at the Canadian National Exhibition, a winter respite centre for homeless people.

At a recent Toronto police tribunal appearance, Kotzer, an officer with downtown's 51 division, pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for deploying his Taser on the man, who had been kicking at the cruiser window but was restrained and not resisting at the time he was Tasered.

"Drive-stun" mode is when a CEW is placed directly on a target, causing pain but not the incapacitation from the deployment of wired probes that deliver a shock.

"Police Constable Kotzer acknowledges that in the circumstances his use of the CEW amounted to excessive force," reads an agreed statement of fact filed at the tribunal last week.

"Kotzer had no justification for utilizing his CEW on the male party," the documents reads.

The incident comes as a growing number of Toronto police constables are being equipped with CEWs, after a February 2018 decision by the Toronto police board to expand the weapon to more front line officers. Prior to that decision, CEWs were predominantly carried by sergeants, an experienced supervisor but not an officer that's often first on scene.

Since the board approved the purchase of 400 additional CEWs, more than 800 constables have been trained to carry them. Constables recently accounted for 77 per cent of the weapon's use, according a recent quarterly report to the board on Taser use.

Seventy-six per cent of all deployments by police during a recent three-month period - there were 132 uses between November 2018 and February 2019 - were what's called "demonstrated force," meaning the weapon is drawn to gain compliance, but not deployed. The weapon was fully deployed 20 times during the same three month period, and "drive stun" mode was used just 12 times.

Provincial standards and Toronto police procedure state that a CEW can only be deployed or used in "drive stun" mode when the person is assaultive. The drive stun mode can only be used to gain control of someone who is at risk of causing harm, not simply to gain compliance of someone who is only resisting, according to the quarterly report.

Kotzer admitted he did not have justification for his use of the Taser in the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2019, when he directly applied the weapon to the handcuffed man, who is not named in tribunal documents.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Kotzer had been answering a call for "disorderlies" at a shelter on George St., where he apprehended a man, handcuffed him and began to transport him to the shelter on the CNE grounds. As they drove, the man became upset and began kicking the window and the partition of the police car "while yelling obscenities," the police document states.

Kotzer stopped the car, opened the rear driver's side door while his partner opened the opposite back door. He then drew and powered on the CEW because he "feared for the safety of his partner," the document states.

He placed the CEW on the man's neck, told him he was going to get Tasered, then removed it and told the man to relax.

"The male party became compliant. He was no longer resisting and he was under control," the document states.

But the man then sat up and repositioned his leg, which Kotzer "mistook ... for an act of renewed aggression" and caused him to Taser the man in "drive stun" mode.

"He told the male to stop resisting and stop kicking. The male was not resisting or kicking at this time," the document states.

Kotzer had been facing two counts of professional misconduct in connection to the incident, including using unnecessary force against a prisoner. But that charge was dropped when Kotzer pleaded guilty to neglecting to carry out a lawful order.

Kotzer's lawyer, Gary Clewley, made a joint submission with the police prosecutor asking for a penalty of demotion from first-class to second-class constable for a period of six months. The hearing officer reserved the decision until a later date.

According to the report to the board, each use of the weapon is reviewed by divisional supervisors and a use of force analyst, and as a result, two constables were directed to take remedial training. The report noted that one case had been referred to the Toronto police tribunal after misconduct was identified.

The report stated that officers are trained "to conduct a proper threat assessment to determine the amount of reasonable force necessary to resolve a given situation."

The report notes CEWs are used in a "small fraction" of police officer contacts with the public. Within the reporting period, there were 157,333 calls-for-service attended by police, and CEWs were used in 126, which amounts to one in every 1,249 attended calls for service.

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Kotzer's case returns later this month for the decision on penalty, according to his lawyer.