Ontario’s police watchdog says there are no reasonable grounds to believe a Peterborough Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with an August crash south of the city that claimed the life of one man and seriously injured two others.
The Special Investigations Unit said around 10:40 p.m. on Aug. 6, an officer was conducting speed enforcement on County Road 28 in Fraserville when he attempted to stop the driver of a Honda Civic for speeding.
“There was a brief chase before the officer disengaged,” said SIU director Joseph Martino.
The vehicle a short time later struck a pickup truck. The collision claimed the life of one of five people in the car — later identified as Neil Henley, 19, from Roseneath, Ont.
Two other passengers – a 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl — were taken to Toronto-area hospitals with serious injuries, the SIU said.
In his report, Martino said the officer conducted a short pursuit after clocking the car travelling 100 kilometres per in the 80 km/h zone. However, the vehicle went “out of sight” as the officer crested a hill, where he could “see a cloud of dust in the distance.”
Martino said the officer came upon the collision with the vehicle he attempted to pull over.
Martino said the SIU determined the car involved was travelling about 160 kilometres per hour for at least “four or five seconds” prior to the collision as it passed a vehicle equipped with a dash camera using the soutbound lane. The subject car crossed over the solid double yellow centre line and travelled southbound in the northbound lane just prior to colliding with the pickup truck.
Surveillance footage was also reviewed from a nearby gas station, Pepisco building and Kawartha Downs Slots as part of the SIU’s investigation.
Martino concluded the municipal police officer — who was interviewed but declined to submit his notes — “comported himself with due care and regard for public safety in the course of his short engagement with the Civic, lasting no longer than a minute over about half a kilometre.”
“There is no evidence to suggest that the officer was ever close to the Civic, or that his driving manifestly imperilled any traffic in his vicinity, which was light at the time,” Martino concluded. “In fact, the evidence indicates that the subject officer was slowing down as he came upon the pickup truck that had been struck.”
Late November, Peterborough County OPP arrested and charged Hunter Smith, 19, of Hamilton Township, with 14 offences including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
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