Based on the way he was behaving and his actions, Sammy Yatim “was going to get himself shot,” Const. James Forcillo’s partner told the jury Wednesday.

Const. Iris Fleckeisen, a 24-year veteran of the force who spent much of her career in administrative positions, returned to first responder duties in April 2013 and became partners with Forcillo at the end of May 2013.

She described Forcillo as a “very capable, competent and intelligent officer who a very devoted dad and good husband.”

Forcillo has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder in Yatim’s shooting death.

Yatim, 18, was on an empty Dundas streetcar stopped at Bellwoods Ave. just after midnight on July 27, 2013, when Forcillo fired nine bullets at him, striking him eight times.

Before the first shots were fired, Fleckeisen said she saw Yatim “make a very deliberate, intentional motion forward, and I interpreted that as (meaning) he was going to be coming off the streetcar.”

The Crown’s position is that Yatim was not intending to get off the streetcar when he took a step, after Forcillo told him that if he took a step forward he’d be shot. The Crown has suggested Yatim was moving back to an area where he’d been standing moments before and may even have been trying to surrender his knife just before he was shot the first three times.

Fleckeisen testified in cross-examination that it took about 12 seconds of observing Yatim for her to form the opinion he was going to get himself shot. She testified that she told the SIU that when she approached the streetcar with Forcillo, she saw both of Yatim’s hand up in a “mock surrender” as if to taunt the officers. She also said Yatim appeared to be “egging on” the officers and was belligerent.

In cross-examination she testified that she did not see Yatim make any verbal threats or overt physical threats.

Fleckeisen said she saw Yatim’s torso move forward as if he was taking a step at a “normal pace.” She agreed she did not see him make any threatening or flicking gestures with the knife and did not see him take a deep breath as Forcillo has testified. She also said Yatim did not appear to be preparing to run.

She said, as seen on a video of the confrontation, that she had a “natural jerk reaction” when the first shot was fired, but it was something she was expecting given Yatim’s move to get off the streetcar.

During a cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Ian Bulmer challenged Fleckeisen’s memory and suggested she was lying to protect her partner. Bulmer said her reaction shows Fleckeisen was shocked when the first shots were fired; she denied this.

Fleckeisen testified that she holstered her gun shortly after arriving at the scene in order to radio for a sergeant with a Taser. However, the airwaves were too chaotic and she was unable to make the request, she said. (Another officer did manage to make the call.)

In response to a question from Forcillo’s lawyer, Peter Brauti, about the Crown’s suggestion that she holstered her gun because she did not consider Yatim a threat, Fleckeisen said: “I think it is very easy to misinterpret and oversimplify my actions that night, especially if you don’t have the context of policing, our practices and procedures. That night . . . was, is, and remains one of the most terrifying moments of my life.”

In cross-examination, Bulmer suggested Fleckeisen asked Yatim a question about whether anyone else was on the streetcar in order to strike up a conversation and try to de-escalate the situation.

Fleckeisen said this was not her intent and that Yatim ignored her question.

“I’m going to suggest to you that you are saying it was not your intent now because you know that if it shows you were trying to de-escalate it does not bode well for the defendant. Right?” Bulmer demanded.

“I disagree,” Fleckeisen said. She also testified Forcillo did not have an opportunity to use verbal de-escalation.

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Bulmer suggested Fleckeisen told Forcillo she was “getting out of the way” because she saw Forcillo was starting to lose his cool and was escalating the situation.

Fleckeisen denied this, saying she was focused on radioing for a Taser so her partner would not have to use lethal force.

“This is what is so important to understand,” Fleckeisen said at one point. (“Enlighten us,” Bulmer interjected.) “Every reaction by the police is actually precipitated by the actions of Mr. Yatim . . . it’s not until Mr. Yatim is doing something that actively endangers us that shots were fired.”

In cross-examination, Bulmer launched a serious attack on Fleckeisen’s memory of the night of the shooting, pointing out her notes, SIU interview and testimony from the preliminary hearing are riddled with mistakes.

Fleckeisen previously said she never drew her gun, which she attributed to having seen a cellphone video of the shooting. She also previously said she did not recall when she holstered her gun until she saw it on the TTC videos. She testified that she cannot recall anything Yatim said that night, and her previous statement that he said something like: “I’m not afraid” is not borne out by the videos.

Fleckeisen also told the SIU in her interview a day after the shooting that she thought Yatim was still standing after the first set of shots were fired.

“Events happened so quickly at the time,” she told the jury. “The series of events the way I remember are not correct. I don’t have a clear recollection of the events as they unfolded.”

This was the first time the jury of 11 members has heard from a police officer, apart from Forcillo, who was on the scene the night of the shooting. (A 12th juror was released Tuesday for reasons that cannot be reported until jury deliberations begin.)

Fleckeisen became emotional as she told the jury about the “life-changing” nature of a “lethal force encounter.”

“The videos can never recreate or recapture the emotion and intensity of a lethal-force encounter,” she said. “There is no way you will ever understand the heart-pounding, the blood-pumping, the hand-shaking reality of when you are involved face-to-face in a lethal-force encounter.”

The trial continues next Thursday.