Nearly one month after London police laid charges in the case, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is ending its probe into police involvement in an incident that ended with an LTC bus hitting an animal clinic.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault.
On Thursday, the agency announced that the driver of the car that police were initially pursuing did not sustain serious injuries in the incident and so the investigation would be dropped.
The incident itself began just before midnight on Oct. 30 when an officer spotted a vehicle heading the wrong way on a side street.
The officer tried to stop the driver near the intersection of Hyman and Waterloo streets, but the driver turned the car’s headlights off and fled northbound on Waterloo Street, according to police. The officer did not pursue the vehicle but notified other police officers in the area.
Police say the suspect vehicle continued to drive through a red light at Waterloo and Oxford streets, where it hit an eastbound LTC bus.
The collision caused the bus to drive over the south curb of Oxford Street and into the North London Neighbourhood Pet Clinic at 746 Waterloo St., causing roughly $600,000 in damage.
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The bus was removed from the building the following day, and the bus driver was treated in hospital for minor injuries.
No one was inside the vet clinic at the time of the crash and the car fled the scene.
Several days later, police announced the driver had been identified and charges were pending.
On Nov. 16, police announced a 26-year-old London man faces seven charges including failure to stop at a red light, driving with a Class G1 licence while unaccompanied by a qualified driver, and failure to remain at the scene of a collision.
He’s due in court Dec. 17.