The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says there was no evidence that police pursued a suspect in a stolen vehicle that crashed in South Bruce.
The man, who was "considered armed and dangerous," was arrested on April 2.
After his arrest, he was admitted to Wingham Hospital with a vertebra fracture, three broken ribs and hemorrhaging in the lungs, prompting the SIU to invoke its mandate.
According to the SIU report, the man stole a vehicle in Exeter at gunpoint and later took a pickup truck near Zurich, before fleeing the area. He was spotted in Hullet Marsh near Clinton, but was able to evade police containment.
Officers from both the Huron and South Bruce OPP detachments spent the afternoon looking for the suspect, under direction not to pursue the vehicle due to the man being armed.
Around 6:30 p.m., police received a tip that the vehicle was spotted in a wooded area behind the suspect's family residence in South Bruce. Once in the area, the officers searched for the truck near a sugar shack.
According to the SIU report, the man stopped his vehicle in a forested area but then began to drive away again when he saw what he believed to be the lights of a police vehicle.
The man drove the truck through a field and collided with a roadside embankment at a speed of nearly 110 km/h, ending up in a ditch on the other side of the road. The man then tried to flee on foot before officers arrived and arrested him.
SIU Director Joseph Martino's report noted there was no evidence of a police pursuit, as there was only a single set of tire tracks through the field.
"As a result, there being no reason to believe that police had any role in causing the Complainant’s injuries, and their having used only the minimal force necessary to effect his arrest, I am satisfied that there is no basis for proceeding with charges," wrote Martino.
The file was closed on July 31.
