Justice sought for teen killed in ATV crash
Jake Hughes’ family is still seeking closure and justice six years after the 19-year-old’s death.
Despite a review by Peel Regional Police, which has not been made public but was shown to The Standard, that found numerous errors made by OPP officers, and a police disciplinary hearing held last summer that led to a neglect of duty charge against Const. Tyler Johnson who led the investigation into Jake’s death, the teenager’s parents say the OPP refuses to change its records. They say Jake was not responsible for the collision which claimed his life.
The OPP has instead opted to contract Missouri State Highway Patrol to conduct yet another review of the case.
“What else do we have to do now to get this fixed?” asked Jake’s father Sam Hughes, a Niagara Regional Police officer.
“We just want Jake’s name cleared,” added his mother Pearl Hughes. “He’s being blamed for causing his horrific death.”
At first, the grief-stricken Welland family accepted the explanation offered by OPP officers about the circumstances of the collision, which occurred on
Aug. 20, 2012. They were told
Jake was driving an ATV when it
struck a closed steel gate on a laneway that ran to a beach on Kennisis Lake just southwest of Algonquin Provincial Park.
And the passenger on the back of the vehicle was uninjured.
OPP policy at the time assigned the first officer to arrive on scene as lead investigator, and in this case, the first to arrive was Johnson — a 19-month rookie at the time, who had never previously investigated a motor vehicle fatality.
Two months after Jake’s funeral, Pearl received a phone call that led her to believe the official report about her son’s death was incorrect.
The call was from Alastair Mills who was first to arrive at the scene. He told her he spent 38 minutes working with another bystander administering CPR on Jake, trying to save the dying young man while waiting for paramedics who had been misdirected to the wrong side of the lake. This contradicted information initially given by the OPP that her son was killed instantly, said Pearl.
In the following months, the family continued to uncover information that told a different story of events than those recorded in the OPP’s official report.The family contacted the OPP, hoping to address discrepancies between the official police report and information contradicting it.
“We pleaded with the OPP, but it got to the point where they weren’t even returning our calls or emails,” Pearl said.
They filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), a civilian oversight agency that coordinates public complaints against police agencies.
In 2015, the OIPRD called in Peel Regional Police to conduct a review of the OPP investigation. That review identified numerous errors in the initial OPP investigation — incorrect measurements, misinterpretation of evidence, lack of scientific evidence, and failure to interview witnesses. The Peel report concluded it was “quite likely” Jake was a passenger on the ATV and not the driver.
The Peel police report also referred to several witness statements that supported the supposition Jake was on the back of the ATV when the collision occurred.
One witness, for instance, provided a detailed description of a tattoo she saw on the ATV passenger moments before the crash. The witness described Jake’s foo dog tattoo, similar to one his father wears. Based on a review of evidence, Peel investigators said repeatedly throughout their two-volume report that “Jake Hughes was quite likely the passenger of the ATV at the time of the collision.”
Pearl said statements to that effect were made 40 times throughout the report.
But following the Peel Regional Police review, the family received a letter dated Nov. 25, 2016 from OPP professional standards bureau chief Supt. Bernie Murphy saying there is “insufficient evidence to support that there are reasonable grounds to believe misconduct occurred with any of the respondent officers.”
The same letter says OPP investigation protocols were reviewed and updated following the crash. For instance, the first OPP officer to arrive on scene is no longer necessarily assigned as lead investigator, said OPP Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne, in an interview.
But despite repeated statements in the Peel police review saying Jake was likely the passenger, Dionne said the Peel report is “not conclusive.”
Sam said the OPP officers botched the investigation so profoundly the OPP took steps to change their training protocols to ensure similar mistakes never happen again.
Const. Johnson pleaded guilty during his disciplinary hearing on May 15, when it was determined police only interviewed five of 13 witnesses who could have been relevant to the case.
Johnson did not interview additional witnesses until directed to do so two months after the collision, and did not re-interview the second rider.
In his decision published July 31, hearing officer Richard Hegedus wrote there were several steps Johnson should have taken during the investigation “which would have made it more fulsome and increased the potential for a supportable outcome.”
“Because all investigative avenues were not followed, opportunities to preserve evidence or conduct timely and thorough witness interviews were lost,” he wrote. “The seriousness of the misconduct was compounded because of the impact that Constable Johnson’s neglect had on the trust placed in him by the public, and more specifically, the Hughes family.”
Although the Hughes family was seeking dismissal for Johnson, his punishment was forfeiture of 48 hours off, requiring him to work for an additional 48 hours at the earliest opportunity.
Despite contradictory evidence, Dionne said no changes to the OPP report are anticipated until Missouri police complete their review of the case.
At that time, she said the OPP will then review the conclusions made during the initial 2012 investigation.
“There were definitely areas that required review and improvement and mistakes potentially were made,” she said, adding that will be determined by the third-party review by Missouri police.
The Hughes family does feel some progress has been made.
As a result of the mounting evidence, the Peel report says the pathologist, who worked with the coroner’s office on the original investigation, now says Jake’s injuries were “more consistent with him occupying the rear passenger seat.”
Dionne said the pathologist does not have the jurisdiction to determine who was driving a vehicle following a collision.
Pearl said the family’s efforts to set the record straight are not over.
“I’m done waiting. I want justice for my son,” she said.
She hopes the investigation by Missouri police will back up the Peel findings.
“They can’t ignore the pictures and all the evidence they gathered.”
Nevertheless, she dreads another year of delay before the matter is resolved.
In the meantime, Jake’s family and many friends continue to honour his memory, filling his bedroom in their Welland home with photographs and keepsakes to celebrate his short life.
Every May since he died,
Jake’s uncle Mark Hughes organizes concerts in Jake’s memory, “with a whole lot of help from family and friends,” Pearl said.
Those concerts have raised about $100,000 for charities including Special Olympics, in the six years they’ve been held.
Dionne said the OPP “empathizes with the Hughes and any family that suffer a tragic loss, and our work is to continue investigating to determine the causal factors and to bring resolution to any of the loss families feel.”
Pearl said Jake often used to tell her: “I love my life, mom.”
It’s a precious memory — one of many Pearl will always cherish — but it’s those memories that make his absence even more heartbreaking.
“Every breath is more painful than the last because I miss how happy he was,” she said.