News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes London Vehicle Injuries Investigation

Case Number: 13-OVI-145   

Mississauga (16 August, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge a London Police Service (LPS) officer with any criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 25-year-old man in June of 2013.

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

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Tuesday, June 25:
• In the evening hours, the subject officer saw a motorcycle speeding northbound on Carfrae Crescent. The officer ran a search of the licence plate number and learned that the registered owner was suspended and the plate registration had expired.
• The officer followed the motorcycle east onto Horton Street and then onto southbound Wellington Street and turned on his emergency lights in an attempt to pull it over. The motorcycle driver accelerated away from the police cruiser. The officer did not engage in a suspect apprehension pursuit and turned off his emergency lights. The officer began driving to the address of the motorcycle’s registered owner to confirm whether or not that person was actually driving the motorcycle in question.  On his way to the address, he came across the same motorcycle that had accelerated away from him. It had crashed and was on the east side of High Street. The driver was lying near the motorcycle and in medical distress. Paramedics were called to the scene.
• The man was transported to London Health Sciences Centre-Victoria Hospital, where he was diagnosed as sustaining serious injuries, including injuries to his legs.

The accident reconstruction report concluded that the motorcycle struck the west side of the east curb of the High Street traffic island at a speed of 81 to 85 km/h, fell to the right side and slid southbound across the Wellington Road ‘U turn off ramp’, continued to slide southbound on High Street and came to rest. There was no evidence of contact between the subject officer’s police cruiser and the motorcycle.

Director Scott said, “In my view, the subject officer did nothing wrong in this incident. He had the lawful authority to initiate a traffic stop for the purpose of investigating Highway Traffic Act infractions. When the motorcycle driver accelerated away from the subject officer in an attempt to elude police contact, the subject officer did not engage in a suspect apprehension pursuit. The only reasonable conclusion to infer from this investigation is that the man was the author of his own misfortune when he lost control of his motorcycle in an attempt to elude police apprehension.”  

 

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