Ontario’s police watchdog says it has charged two officers in connection to a fatal wrong-way pursuit on Highway 401 last spring.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Friday it has charged Durham Regional Police officers Sgt. Richard Flynn and Const. Brandon Hamilton each with three counts of criminal negligence causing death, and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The update comes more than eight months after a fatal multi-vehicle crash on April 29, 2024, in Whitby, Ont.
That night, the SIU said several Durham officers were chasing a cargo van that had been identified as a vehicle of interest in an alleged liquor store robbery in nearby Clarington, Ont.
SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon told reporters at the time officers found a vehicle of interest — a U-Haul cargo van — and followed it through numerous streets in Durham Region “as the vehicle drove erratically.”

The vehicle got on Highway 401 at Stevenson Road in Oshawa in the wrong direction and was travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes.
Shortly after, Hudon said there was a multi-vehicle collision involving at least six vehicles on Highway 401, just east of Highway 412, in Whitby, resulting in the death of a three-month-old child, the child’s grandmother, age 55, and grandfather, age 60. Two other family members were also in the car and were left with injuries.
The driver of the van, who was also killed in the crash, was identified as a 21-year-old man, while a 38-year-old male passenger suffered serious injuries.

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While the SIU is required to complete its probes into police actions within 120 days, the watchdog said in August it needed more time to complete a “thorough investigation.”
The SIU said two officers involved in the pursuit did not submit to an interview or provide their duty notes, as is their legal right. Nineteen witness officials and 36 civilian witnesses were designated in the case.
Durham Regional Police Chief Peter Moreira said he would “respect the process” and conduct his own internal investigation as well.
“The fact remains that, regardless of the results of the SIU investigation, this was a tragic and catastrophic event that resulted in the death of innocent lives, devastated a family and has profoundly impacted our community,” he said at a hastily arranged news conference on Friday.
Moreira said the two officers had been suspended with pay and would be assigned administrative duties “if and when they’re reinstated.” He said he believed they had 32 and four years of experience on the force.
“Our officers are often called upon to make split-second decisions in an increasingly complex, dynamic, dangerous environment and do so with the commitment to protect life and remove dangerous criminals from the streets — and we’re held accountable for our actions,” Moreira said.
“Whether your concern is centred on the suspected criminal who fled from the police or concerned with the decision-making of officers during this event, we must all have respect for our justice system and be patient for this process to unfold.”
‘Our family is reeling’
The incident prompted questions about the decision to pursue the van in the wrong direction on the highway.
After the crash, police and emergency dispatchers in Durham were instructed to take a course on pursuits within two months.
Gokulnath Manivannan and his wife Ashwitha were in the car that night, and spoke about the impacts in a statement released in May by the SIU, saying: “Our family is reeling.”
“We are at a complete loss of words to describe the agony and vacuum in our hearts knowing we can never hold our child Aditya Vivaan, who gave us so many precious memories in such a short time, in our hands again,” Gokulnath said.

He added his parents were visiting from Chennai, India, with the sole purpose of spending time with their grandson. They had arrived in Canada only two days before the crash.
“My father, who had recently retired at the age of 60, was overjoyed with the opportunity to spend time with his grandson,” the statement read.
“He affectionately referred to this time as the ‘year of grandparents fun.’”
He said the baby boy’s grandmother, “was eagerly anticipating every moment with her son and grandson, planning to make their stay all about her grandchild.”
“The pain of my own injuries pales as I grapple with the shock and loss of my parents and my only son on the same evening and the ordeal continues with my wife’s continued suffering from surgeries and repeated flashbacks of the trauma,” Gokulnath wrote.
Both Flynn and Hamilton are required to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Oshawa on Feb. 13.
— with files from Global News’ Isaac Callan
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