No charges for Sudbury police officer in December crash: SIU
The province's Special Investigations Unit says a Sudbury Police officer should not be charged, after a 40-year-old man was injured in a collision following a police pursuit on Dec. 8, 2013.
“This was a relatively uneventful pursuit until the vehicles made their way onto Frood Road," SIU acting director Joseph Martino said in a press release issued Tuesday.
"While the subject officer’s speeds were in excess of 100 km/h at points along Lasalle Boulevard, his speeds were relatively moderate at other times along this stretch of road."
Martino noted that, given the time of day, both vehicular and pedestrian traffic would have been light. And there was no indication that the pursuit actually endangered anyone in its path.
"As the vehicles continued southbound on Frood Road, it seems the subject officer was alive to the growing risks to public safety and was thinking about pulling back in anticipation of terminating the pursuit, just before the collision," Martino continued.
'Subject officer did not drive dangerously'
The man continued to accelerate southbound on Frood Road. In the area of Frood Road and Shevchenko Avenue he lost control, veered across the northbound lane of traffic, mounted the east sidewalk and struck a tree.
The van sustained catastrophic damage and the man suffered several broken vertebrae.
"By the time of the collision, the evidence suggests the subject officer’s cruiser was several car lengths behind the van," Martino stated.
"Regrettably, it appears the man continued to pick up speed and ultimately lost control of the van. In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the subject officer did not drive dangerously or recklessly during the course of this pursuit of some five kilometres, or that he otherwise fuelled a pursuit that placed the lives and safety of the public around it at undue risk."
The SIU assigned four investigators, two forensic investigators and a collision reconstructionist to probe the circumstances of the incident.
As part of the investigation, six witness officers and one civilian witness were interviewed. The subject officer did not interview with the SIU or provide a copy of his duty notes, as is his legal right. The SIU also obtained and reviewed a copy of the GSPS communications recording and the automated vehicle-locator data from the subject officer’s cruiser.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.