News Release
Investigation Discontinued for Five-vehicle Collision on Highway 427 in Toronto
Case Number: 17-PVI-339
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has discontinued an investigation into a five-vehicle collision involving an Ontario Provincial Police vehicle. The crash occurred in November on Highway 427 in Toronto.
Just before 7:00 p.m. on November 17, 2017, a taxi travelling southbound on Highway 427 near Dundas Street collided with a vehicle in front of it. The taxi then moved across the highway and collided with a marked OPP vehicle. Moments later, a second taxi crashed into another vehicle that had braked quickly to avoid the first collision. A 49-year-old man in the second taxi was transported to hospital and diagnosed with a shoulder injury.
Director Loparco said, “The evidence indicates that the subject officer was not involved in, nor had anything to do with, the collision and was therefore not responsible for the man’s injury.”
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