The Special Investigations Unit has cleared a Lambton OPP officer of any wrongdoing in a crash last summer that seriously injured a 62-year-old man.
Just after 4:30pm on July 9, 2015, an officer was on patrol travelling west on Confederation Line in Warwick Township. The officer spotted a red Pontiac Sunfire travelling east at a high rate of speed and turned around to follow it.
The driver lost control of the Sunfire, and entered a wheat field where it rolled and became airborne before coming to rest on its wheels.
The man was ejected from the vehicle and sustained multiple traumatic injuries including a number of fractures. He was taken to hospital for surgery.
"The evidence falls short of suggesting the officer exercised a level of care markedly short of the standard to be expected of a reasonable person in the circumstances – the test prescribed by the criminal law when considering the potential offences of dangerous driving and criminal negligence causing bodily harm," says SIU Director Tony Loparco.
“It would appear that the police vehicle was never very close to the red Sunfire, particularly as the Sunfire neared the collision site where witnesses suggest a gap of about ten seconds and a considerable distance separated the vehicles, suggesting the officer did not fuel the reckless operation of the man’s vehicle."