Manitoba police watchdog clears RCMP officer accused of excessive speeding

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) has cleared an RCMP officer accused of driving at an excessive speed due, in part, to witness evidence described as “inconclusive, confusing and incapable of corroboration.”

Manitoba’s police watchdog began investigating after a man initially reported seeing an on-duty female officer hitting speeds in excess of 140km/hr on Highway 1 westbound into Brandon Oct. 6.

The man, who told RCMP the officer had been driving an unmarked police SUV without its emergency lights activated, said he followed the police vehicle and found it parked at a Brandon restaurant.

He also told RCMP he had captured the incident on his dashcam.

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But the watchdog says the witness’s story changed when IIU investigators spoke to him later.

In a report released Friday, the IIU said the man now said the police vehicle had been going between 110 and 120 km/h in an area with a marked speed zone of 110 km/h.

The dashcam video had also been overwritten and couldn’t be accessed as evidence, the IIU said.

In its report the IIU also said while a female RCMP officer from the Headingley branch had been in Brandon that day for meetings, investigators were unable to determine whether or not she had been behind the wheel at the time of the alleged incident.

“Following the completion of this investigation, it was determined that the available evidence was insufficient to identify the operator of the unmarked police vehicle with any certainty,” IIU civilian director Zane Tessler said in the report.

“Accordingly, there are no grounds to support the designation of anyone as a subject officer. The evidence of the only witness to the driving was inconclusive, confusing and incapable of
corroboration.

“Accordingly, in these circumstances, there is no basis to continue with this investigation and this file is closed.”