News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Brampton Vehicle Death
Case Number: 13-OVD-231
Other News Releases Related to Case 13-OVD-231
SIU Investigates Motor Vehicle Injuries in Brampton
Update: SIU Appeals for Witnesses to Motor Vehicle Death in Brampton
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Tony Loparco, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge an officer with the Peel Regional Police (PRP) with any criminal offence in relation to the death of a 61-year-old man in September 2013.
The SIU assigned three investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, two witness officers and nine civilian witnesses were interviewed. The subject officer was also interviewed and provided a copy of his duty notes. The SIU also collected and reviewed the PRP computer aided dispatch report, GPS data relating to PRP cruisers and the service’s policy on Suspect Apprehension Pursuit.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on September 16, 2013:
• At approximately 10:58 a.m., a PRP officer was in an unmarked cruiser at the Bramalea City Centre. The officer noticed a Ford F150 pickup truck that raised the officer’s suspicion that the driver might be impaired.
• The pickup truck left the mall parking lot and the officer followed, eventually losing sight of it along Queen St. E.
• A second officer (the subject officer), who was travelling westbound on Peel Centre Dr. in a marked cruiser, saw the truck travelling above the posted speed limit eastbound on the same road.
• The subject officer turned around and followed the F150 eastbound onto Clark Blvd. in order to initiate a traffic stop.
• The subject officer slowed his cruiser and stopped following it near Kings Cross Rd.
• The F150 continued past Kings Cross Rd. and entered the intersection of Clark Blvd. and Bramalea Rd. There, it collided with five other vehicles.
• The 61-year-old driver of one of the five vehicles that was hit by the truck was taken first to Brampton Civic Hospital and then transferred to St. Michael’s Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
• The subject officer’s cruiser did not at any time make contact with the fleeing Ford F150.
Director Loparco said, “There is no evidence that the subject officer’s short pursuit in an attempt to stop the Ford F150 for a traffic stop contributed to the manner in which the F150 was being operated and its ultimate collision at the intersection, resulting in the tragic death of an uninvolved driver. As a result I do not have reasonable grounds to lay a charge against the subject officer for dangerous driving and no charge will issue.”
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