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The OPP later learned that the driver had checked himself into a hospital in Montreal and was diagnosed with cervical fractures, a punctured lung and other injuries.
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The provincial Special Investigations Unit has concluded there are no reasonable grounds to believe an OPP officer committed a criminal offence after he briefly pursued a SUV that later crashed into a church in Vankleek Hill, injuring the driver.
The 21-year-old driver was arrested while trying to flee the scene and was taken to the Hawkesbury General Hospital. Because police initially believed the driver had not sustained any serious injuries, the scene was processed and the SUV was towed.
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The OPP later learned that the driver had checked himself into a hospital in Montreal and was diagnosed with cervical fractures, a punctured lung and other injuries.
The SIU is a civilian oversight agency that investigates incidents involving police where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.
The events in this case unfolded starting around 5 a.m. on July 7, when an off-duty police official leaving the Hawkesbury OPP Detachment saw two vehicles travelling at a high rate of speed, turning left at a red light and disregarding a stop sign. She followed the two vehicles in her personal vehicle and notified police dispatch.
Two police officers left the detachment separately and located the two vehicles, a Volkwagen Jetta and a Toyota RAV4. The officers attempted — but failed — a “tandem stop,” a technique in which cruisers are positioned in front and behind a vehicle in order to force a controlled deceleration of the vehicle.
The first police officer accelerated after the RAV4 for about 20 seconds, then disengaged. He then drove north on Highway 34 to join the second officer, who had successfully pulled over the Jetta. The female driver was arrested.
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The SIU report concluded that police communication recordings showed the pursuit of the RAV4 was discontinued at about 5:21 a.m. A passing motorist alerted police about a crash at Knox Presbyterian Church in Vankleek Hill, sometime between 5:30 a.m. and 5:32 a.m.
According to footage from the first officer’s body-worn camera, he walked up to the driver who was on his knees in the parking lot of a business.
The officer told the driver to look at him. He looked up and there was blood smeared on his face. The officer said: “You shouldn’t have ran, you’re all f—ed man.” The driver asked the officer what happened and the officer told him he lost some teeth.
Starting at about 5:37:50 a.m., the officer walked away from the driver and said to another police officer: “Good thing I discontinued.”
In his report, SIU director Joseph Martino said in his assessment of the evidence, there are “no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO (subject officer) committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s (driver’s) injuries.”
The question for Martino was whether the way the OPP officer drove his vehicle was “sufficiently egregious” to attract a criminal charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
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The officer’s speeds catching up to the vehicle were more than twice the speed limit at points. But that was to be expected if he was to catch up to the Jetta and RAV4 to be in a position to stop them, Martino said.
Given what the officer had been told and what he saw when he pulled alongside the RAV4, he had cause to believe the man was driving dangerously, said Martino, who was also satisfied the officer showed due care and regard for public safety.
The decision to attempt the tandem stop is subject to scrutiny, he said. It was raining at the time and visibility was poor, which would have added to the inherent risks associated with vehicles moving at speed in close proximity. But the tandem stop never came together because the RAV4 accelerated away before the police cruisers could get in position, Martino concluded.
“Regrettably, though he had been provided time and space to reduce his velocity if he had been so inclined, the complainant (driver) chose to continue at breakneck speed, losing control of the RAV4 and crashing into a church,” said Martino. “He is the author of his own misfortune.”
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