SIU Clears Peel Police in Brampton Crash
Published March 1, 2018 at 8:27 pm
A Peel police officer has been cleared by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit after two men were seriously injured in a Brampton crash.
A Peel police officer has been cleared by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit after two men were seriously injured in a Brampton crash.
” … There is absolutely no basis here for the laying of criminal charges,” said SIU director Tony Loparco in the report released on March 1.
The incident took place on Dec. 31, 2016.
Police reported a crash at 1:56 a.m. after a short pursuit was terminated.
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The subject officer initiated a traffic stop involving a black Nissan on Kennedy Rd., south of Queen St., with lights and siren activated.
The Nissan fled northbound and the officer disengaged and stopped his cruiser, police say.
The fleeing vehicle collided with a Chevrolet van at Rutherford and Vodden roads about two minutes later.
The driver of the Nissan, complainant #1, is a 26-year-old man who was taken to the hospital with internal stomach bleeding and a brain injury.
His passenger was taken to another hospital with facial and chest injuries but the doctors didn’t speak with police.
The driver of the van, a 61-year-old man, and his male passenger were struck by the Nissan.
The men were treated at the same hospital as the other passenger.
The man driving the van was assessed as having fractured ribs and bruising to his heart.
All of the civilian witnesses interviewed said there was no police vehicle in view when the crash took place.
“There is no dispute” that the driver of the Nissan and his passenger “were intoxicated at the time of the collision and leading up to that point,” said Loparco.
As a result of the crash, the Nissan driver suffered a cracked vertebra and internal bleeding in his head and stomach.
“On all of the evidence, it is clear that although the [subject officer] initially attempted to bring the Nissan to a stop, which he was lawfully entitled to do, at no time did he pursue the Nissan after the Nissan entered the intersection against the red light,” wrote Loparco.
Rather, “the [subject officer] de-activated his emergency equipment and allowed complainant #1 to carry on without interference and he was lost from view.”
CCTV footage shows within seconds of the officer activating his emergency equipment, he deactivated it and allowed the Nissan to drive away, said Loparco.
“I can find no causal connection between the driving of the [subject officer] and the injuries sustained by the three persons involved in the collision, which are solely attributable to the reckless driving of complainant #1.”
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