No charges after SIU probe into OPP cruiser collision in Eas

[Thomas]

No charges after SIU probe into OPP cruiser collision in East Garafraxa

Volkswagen Jetta strayed into path of speeding police vehicle

Ontario’s police watchdog has determined there are no grounds for charges against an off-duty Ontario Provincial Police officer whose cruiser was struck by a civilian vehicle in East Garafraxa as the officer was heading home from his job in Haldimand County earlier this spring.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) made this determination despite evidence the officer was travelling more than 40 kilometres per hour (km/h) above the speed limit at the time of the collision.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m., on April 21, the officer was travelling north on County Road 24 and had passed Side Road 10 when his cruiser, a Ford Explorer, was struck by a southbound vehicle, a Volkswagen Jetta.

It was determined the Jetta strayed into the northbound lane into the officer’s path of travel.

The front driver’s sides of the vehicles collided. The impact sent the Explorer into the ditch on the east side of County Road 24, where it came to a stop. The Jetta continued south a distance and eventually came to rest on the west side shoulder and ditch.

The driver of the Jetta was taken to hospital and diagnosed with multiple serious injuries, including various fractures and internal bleeding.

In his report, SIU director Joseph Martino concluded there’s no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence.

He did, however, note crash data from the officer’s vehicle indicated he had been travelling 120 km/h to 135 km/h on County Road 24 as he approached the site of the collision. The speed limit is 80 km/h.

https://www.orangeville.com/news/no-cha ... 5825b.html