Officers tried to stop driver of Ford Escape moments before September collision, SIU says
A Hamilton officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the case of a multi-vehicle collision last fall that left two men dead and two people injured, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said that around 11 p.m. ET on Sept. 25, the driver of a Ford Escape became involved in a collision with a Hyundai Sonata at a Hamilton intersection. As a result, the two back-seat passengers in the Hyundai lost their lives and the drivers of both vehicles sustained serious injuries.
Hamilton Police Service officers had tried to stop the driver of the Escape moments prior, the SIU said.
According to the SIU, an officer who was driving a police forensics van had an interaction with a man who was “driving erratically” on John Street South, near Forest Avenue.
The officer was not injured during the incident, the SIU said.
Officer operating police van cleared
SIU director Joseph Martino found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer operating a police van that was involved in the collision committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident, the police watchdog said in a news release Monday.
The officer’s name wasn’t released by the SIU.
“As there was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, the file has been closed,” the SIU said.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in incidents that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.