News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Brantford Vehicle Injuries Investigation

Case Number: 12-OVI-336   

Mississauga (3 January, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge a Brantford Police Service officer with any criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 36-year-old man and 29-year-old woman in November of 2012.

The SIU assigned four investigators, two forensic investigators and a collision reconstructionist to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, two witness officers and 13 civilian witnesses were interviewed. The subject officer consented to an interview with the SIU and provided a copy of her duty notes. 

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Sunday, November 11:
• In the afternoon hours, the subject officer was dispatched to the area of Wayne Gretzky Parkway and Morton Avenue regarding a possible impaired driver. The officer was informed that the vehicle in question was a green Ford F150 pickup truck and was told the owner lived at an address on Charing Cross Street.
• The officer drove to the address and saw the pickup truck parked and unoccupied. She parked her cruiser near the intersection of Charing Cross and West Streets to write up her notes.  
• Moments later, the officer saw the suspect vehicle drive past her, and signal to turn northbound on West Street. The officer approached the intersection and turned north on West Street towards the suspect vehicle.  She activated her emergency lights and made eye contact with the male driver. In response, the man accelerated, made a U-turn over the median, and drove south on West Street in the centre lane. The subject officer continued to follow the truck. She activated her siren. As the pickup truck continued to accelerate, the officer discontinued her pursuit and pulled over to the curb lane close to West Street and Morton Avenue.
• As the officer radioed in that she was discontinuing the pursuit, the truck was involved in an a collision with a Ford Explorer in the northbound left turn lane of West Street at Charing Cross Street. The speed of the pickup truck before impact was somewhere between 102 to 115 km/h and there was no sign of braking immediately before impact. The Ford F150 continued to travel in a southeast direction, rotating slightly counterclockwise and the front left bumper came into contact with a Chevrolet Malibu. The suspect vehicle came to rest facing southeast across both northbound lanes of West Street.
• The subject officer drove to the accident scene and parked her police cruiser. She observed that the driver of the suspect vehicle was non-responsive, and called for paramedics to attend the scene. The woman passenger of the pickup truck appeared to have injuries to her ankle. No one else was seriously hurt.
• Both injured individuals were transported to Brant Community Health System. The man was diagnosed as sustaining a fractured left shoulder and collar bone, and the woman a fractured right ankle.

Director Scott said, “In my view, the subject officer did nothing wrong in these circumstances. She had credible information to initiate an investigation of the driver of the green Ford F150 pickup truck. The driver chose to flee as opposed to stopping for the police.  Under the suspect apprehension pursuits regulation to the Police Services Act, the subject officer had the lawful authority to initiate a pursuit. The officer quickly discontinued the pursuit, presumably because she concluded that the risk to public safety was too high. The man continued to drive in a dangerous manner, causing serious injuries to both himself and his passenger. In my view, the man was solely responsible for this motor vehicle collision and the ensuing injuries.”

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must

• consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
• depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
• publicly report the results of its investigations