News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Investigation into Essex County Vehicle Death

Case Number: 13-PVD-100   

Mississauga (13 May, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge an Ontario Provincial Police officer with any criminal offence in relation to the death of a 39-year-old man last month.

The SIU assigned three investigators, three forensic investigators and a collision reconstructionist to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, five witness officers and five civilian witnesses were interviewed. The subject officer declined to be interviewed or provide a copy of his notes to the SIU, as is his legal right. 

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Thursday, April 18, 2013:
• At approximately 12:30 a.m., the subject officer attempted to stop a green Ford Mercury Grand Marquis in the area of County Road 46 and Manning Road, east of Windsor. The civilian car did not stop and began to accelerate. The subject officer continued to follow the vehicle. 
• The officer radioed in the licence plate number and ascertained to whom the vehicle was registered. He reported that the vehicle was travelling at speeds up to 155 km/hr.  The subject officer initiated a suspect apprehension pursuit of the vehicle and activated his emergency equipment. 
• North of the 401 overpass, the driver of the Grand Marquis lost control of his vehicle, and left the roadway on the east side of Manning Road. The vehicle rolled over a number of times and came to rest on its roof. The best estimate of the length of the pursuit was less than a minute. 
• The driver was partially ejected from the vehicle but trapped under the roof of his car. The subject officer and others lifted the vehicle to extricate the man and CPR was started. 
• EMS arrived and transported the man to Windsor Regional Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. 

A subsequent post-mortem examination determined the probable cause of death to be trauma to the neck and head.

Director Scott said, “The only reasonable inference to draw from this investigation is that the man fled from the police in an attempt to elude apprehension. He continued to accelerate as he drove northbound on Manning Road, lost control of his vehicle, rolled it on the east side of the roadway and  unfortunately died as a result of the ensuing trauma of the collision. The subject officer was involved in a very short pursuit before the pursued vehicle left the roadway and there is no suggestion of contact between the two vehicles. It would appear that the man was the author of his own misfortune when he lost control of his vehicle.” 

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