Ontario’s police watchdog has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Peterborough Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a double fatal collision in the city in January 2022.
According to an extensive report issued by Joseph Martino, director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), around 9:35 p.m. on Jan. 28, a police officer was driving eastward on Lansdowne Street West for an unrelated call when they observed a car (an Infiniti) speeding past the cruise in the area of the Park Street intersection.
Martino says the officer executed a U-turn and activated the cruiser’s emergency lights and “accelerated after the Infiniti,” reaching a brief speed of 127 km/h before slowing due to safety concerns.
The SIU say the suspect vehicle first struck a traffic light pole and then rear-ended a SUV on the road.
Two men in the suspect vehicle — ages 38 and 41 — were extricated from the vehicle by first responders and transported to hospital where they were pronounced deceased, Martino said.
Neither the SIU nor police identified the victims.
Two women in the SUV were also taken to hospital but did not suffer any serious injuries, the report stated.
Martino said the investigation — which included SIU seven investigators interviews from four civilian witnesses, surveillance footage from businesses in the area, and more — determined the officer properly executed their duty in the pursuit to investigate a potential Highway Traffic Act infraction.
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He said the short pursuit by the subject officer (SO) was not a marked departure from the level that a “reasonable person would have exercised” and that the officer “comported themselves with due care and regard for public safety.”
“The officer had travelled no more than half-a-kilometre when they discontinued the pursuit, slowed and turned around again to resume their travel to the initial call for service,” he said.
“The decision was a wise one — by that time, the Infiniti was far ahead of the officer travelling significantly in excess of the speed limit. While the officer did reach a speed as high as 127 km/h in these few moments, they did so with their emergency lights on and without any indication of third-party traffic having been directly imperiled by their cruiser.
“Finally, the SO was nowhere near the site of the collision at Lansdowne Street and Webber Avenue when it occurred.”
Martino says the investigated has concluded there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer “transgressed the limits of care” prescribed by the criminal law in their brief engagement with the Infiniti.
“Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file is closed,” he concluded.
Editor’s Note: The SIU originally stated one victim was 48. The article has been updated to reflect the age of one victim was 41.
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