News Release
SIU Closes Investigation into Vehicle Injury in Niagara Falls
Case Number: 13-OVI-048
Mississauga (25 February, 2013) --- Based on the Special Investigations Unit’s (SIU) preliminary enquiries into the injury sustained by a 37-year-old man in Niagara Falls earlier this month, SIU Director Ian Scott has terminated the investigation. The incident, involving officers with the Niagara Regional Police Service, occurred on Friday, February 15, 2013.
Three investigators, two forensic investigators and a collision reconstructionist from the SIU were assigned to probe the case. The SIU investigation determined that in the evening hours, the subject officer was driving a marked cruiser eastbound on the Niagara River Parkway when a Dodge sedan passed him going in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. The officer flicked his roof lights on and off to warn the man to slow down, and then turned his cruiser around to follow the car. A short distance away, the officer found that the civilian vehicle had failed to negotiate a curve and had left the roadway. At no point was the man aware that he was being followed by the police. He was taken to the Greater Niagara General Hospital and found to have sustained a fractured right orbital bone.
As the police officer had nothing to do with the reason for the man’s injuries, the SIU has terminated its investigation.
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