The Ontario police watchdog cleared a London officer of criminal wrongdoing after a couple were injured when their sedan was hit by a police patrol car in the Old East Village in August.
The incident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the intersection of Quebec Street and Queens Avenue, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said in a statement Friday.
According to the SIU, the officer had been responding to a call along King Street for a report of a man with a weapon at the time of the collision, and had been traveling west on Queens Avenue from Woodman Avenue with lights and sirens activated.
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The officer continued through the stop sign governing westbound traffic throughout Queens and entered the intersection without stopping, colliding with the rear of the driver’s side of a southbound Ford Focus, the SIU said. .
A GPS data point taken when the officer entered the intersection showed that the cruiser had been traveling at about 60 km / h, slightly over the speed limit.
The sedan, occupied by a 58-year-old male driver and his 62-year-old wife in the passenger seat, was sent spinning into a fire hydrant in the southwest corner of the intersection, which struck and caused the vehicle to stop. abruptly, the SIU said.
The police vehicle involved in the accident on August 28, 2021.
Special Investigations Unit
The officer involved called dispatch for help and assisted the driver and passenger of the sedan, the SIU said.
“I’m in Queens and Quebec, I just ran into someone here,” the officer said by radio, according to the SIU, which noted that an ambulance was requested for a man who was bleeding from the head.
“Everything is fine here, only one ambulance is needed, Code Two, head injury, all conscious, breathing and talking,” the officer said.
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The 58-year-old male driver suffered a head laceration and was treated at Victoria Hospital, while the 62-year-old passenger sought medical attention several days later where she was diagnosed with multiple rib fractures on the right side, the IUS. saying.
A subject official was designated as part of the investigation, along with a witness official and two complainants, the occupants of the sedan.
The SIU says the four were interviewed as part of the investigation. The subject official at the investigation center refused to send his notes, as it is his legal right.
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In his conclusion, SIU Director Joseph Martino says that, based on the evidence, there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a crime, that is, dangerous driving and causing bodily harm.
“The crime is based, in part, on conduct that amounts to a marked deviation from the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the circumstances,” writes Martino.
“In the present case, the question is whether there was a lack of attention on the part of the (subject official) that caused or contributed to the collision and / or was egregious enough to generate criminal sanction. In my opinion, there wasn’t ”.
Martino says he accepts that the officer involved had been fulfilling his legal duty by traveling through the intersection to respond to a high-priority call involving reported firearms.
He further writes that while the officer acted dangerously by failing to stop at the intersection that resulted in the accident, “I cannot reasonably conclude that the officer’s indiscretion was of a magnitude that would justify criminal liability.”
“There is no indication that on his travels to the crash site THEN drove without regard for public safety. There is no hard evidence, for example, that he ignored the traffic lights that he would have encountered along the path he took. There is also no evidence of significantly excessive speed, ”says Martino.
“Additionally, the hazard lights and the officer’s siren were on, a fact that could have prevented the collision had there been no trees and bushes at the northeast corner of the intersection creating a visual obstruction between westbound and southbound traffic.” .
The full SIU report can be read on the agency’s website.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates events involving the police that have resulted in death, serious injury, or reports of sexual assault.
Reference-globalnews.ca