News Release
No Charges Against Officer in Relation to Kingston Collision
Case Number: 22-OVI-007
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Kingston Police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a January collision that resulted in injuries to two men.
On the night of January 14, 2022, in the area of Queen Street and Barrie Street, the officer attempted to stop a Honda Civic that she observed was being operated recklessly. The officer abandoned any thoughts of a pursuit as the Civic accelerated away. She radioed what had just happened and received permission to follow the route taken by the vehicle. A couple of minutes later, the police received word of a motor vehicle collision at the intersection of Concession Street and Nelson Street. A Honda Civic, occupied by three males, had run a stop sign and struck a Nissan Versa. Two 19-year-old men from the Civic were seriously injured. Suspecting that the Civic might have been the vehicle she had earlier observed, the officer notified a sergeant.
While it remained unclear whether the Civic involved in the collision was the same vehicle that the officer had seen minutes earlier, there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in the moments prior to the collision. As such, there was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges against the officer and the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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