The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared London police of any wrongdoing in connection with a crash that left an alleged carjacker with serious injuries last June.
Police rushed to the north end of the city after a woman reported she had been assaulted, threatened with a knife, and had her vehicle stolen in the parking lot of Masonville Place shortly before 7:15 p.m. on June 2, 2018. An officer spotted the stolen vehicle, a green Subaru SUV, as it turned onto Fanshawe Park Road from Adelaide Street and headed east.
The officer tried to pull the SUV over, but it continued on driving into the roundabout at A.B. Lucas Secondary School on Tennent Avenue. Police used two cruisers to try to block the vehicle's path, however, it drove around them onto Barrymont Avenue and then westbound on Clermont Avenue.
Both cruisers continued to follow the stolen vehicle, staying one to two car lengths behind.
When the SUV turned south onto North Vernon Avenue the driver lost control, jumping the curb and slamming into a tree on the front lawn of a home. The driver ran from the vehicle.
Police arrested an 18-year-old man a short distance away. The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries including a 7 cm liver laceration and a partially collapsed lung.
Four investigators, a forensic investigator and a collision reconstructionist from the SIU were assigned to the case. They determined the police pursuit of the stolen vehicle lasted approximately one minute and 20 seconds. Witnesses told investigators the Subaru was travelling at a high rate of speed and didn't stop for a stop sign before making a wide left turn onto North Vernon.
"On a review of all of the evidence, I am satisfied that the manner in which the SO (subject officer) and WO #1 (witness officer) operated their police vehicles fell within the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law," SIU Interim Director Joseph Martino said in his final report.
Martino also noted police had good reason to believe the suspect posed a threat to public safety due to the violence used during the carjacking and were within their rights to initiate a pursuit. He stated that GPS data downloaded from the police cruisers showed their speeds ranged from 40 to 60 km/h throughout the chase.
"The Complainant (suspect) was not in my view unduly pushed by the officers nor prevented by their efforts from operating his vehicle in a safe fashion despite the police vehicles being within one or two car lengths from the Subaru at points during the pursuit," said Martino. "I am satisfied that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officers either caused or contributed to the collision in question, or otherwise drove dangerously in violation of the Criminal Code.
The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault.
