There is no basis for charges against an OPP officer after a vehicle he was following was involved in a crash with with a tractor trailer near Matheson.
Special Investigations Unit (SIU) director Joseph Martino released a report on the 2019 crash, which seriously injured a 28-year-old man, today.
The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates incidents involving police when there is a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
According to the director's report, the crash happened Sept. 24, 2019 on Highway 11 southeast of Matheson.
Late that morning, OPP received a complaint about a BMW sedan being driven erratically. The report says an officer spotted the vehicle heading southbound going 162 km/hr in a posted 90 km/h zone.
"The officer did not activate any emergency equipment. He stopped at the side of the road and began turning his police vehicle around. The civilian vehicle continued southbound at high speed and was soon involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer, just south of Matheson," reads the report.
The BMW ended up in the ditch near the roadway and the driver was airlifted to Health Sciences North in Sudbury with serious injuries. The driver of the tractor trailer was not injured.
The director's assessment is that there are no "reasonable grounds" to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the driver's injuries.
The findings note that the officer was "always well back of the BMW in distance and time throughout his limited engagement with the vehicle." The evidence indicates he didn't arrive on scene until 30 seconds after the crash.
"In the circumstances, there is nothing to suggest the (officer) pushed the Complainant at any point or otherwise contributed to the Complainant’s loss of control. On the contrary, it appears that the Complainant was unaware of the presence of a police vehicle behind him," reads the report.
You can read the full report on the incident here.
