Ontario's police watchdog has cleared police in Norfolk County in a single-vehicle crash north of Simcoe that sent two men to hospital.
Norfolk OPP officers pulled over a vehicle in the area of Hwy. 24 and Queensway West around 12:55 a.m. on February 6. The vehicle took off from police, heading north toward Old Highway 24. The vehicle soon left the roadway while trying to use the eastbound off-ramp and rolled over before coming to rest near a fence, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said.
A 30-year-old male passenger had to be helped from the wreckage, while the male driver initially ran away from the scene. He was arrested a short distance away. Both men were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
On Tuesday, the SIU stated it was terminating the investigation.
“In my view, the police conduct was sufficiently divorced from the collision such as to negate the possibility of any criminality on the part of the involved officers," Interim SIU Director Joseph Martino said in a statement. "The police were nowhere near the vehicle as it travelled north along Highway 24 and then crashed. In the circumstances, as there are patently no issues to further any possible criminal investigation of the police, this investigation is hereby discontinued and the file closed.”
The SIU is a civilian agency, established in 1990, that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.