News Release
No Charges Against Saugeen Shores Officer After Woman Suffers Serious Injuries in Crash
Case Number: 21-OVI-425
Other News Releases Related to Case 21-OVI-425
SIU Investigating Serious Injuries Suffered by Woman in Port Elgin Collision
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Saugeen Shores Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with serious injuries suffered by a 45-year-old woman in a collision last December. As the vehicle in which she was a passenger had been briefly pursued by the officer just prior to the collision, the SIU was notified and initiated an investigation.
On December 25, 2021, an officer pursued a vehicle, in which the woman was a passenger, for not having licence plates. Moments after the half-kilometre pursuit, the driver of the vehicle lost control and struck a house on Bricker Street in Saugeen Shores. The female passenger was diagnosed with a broken arm and head injury.
Director Martino found no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer involved transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in the context of the very brief engagement in this case. The file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision):
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
Lisez ce communiqué en français.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES