SIU clears cops after crash involving speeding motorcycle

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says there are no grounds for criminal charges against Niagara Regional Police officers, after a motorcycle rider was seriously injured last summer in a crash with a police cruiser in West Lincoln.

In its report published Friday, the SIU said the Aug. 24 crash occurred on Silver Street at about 12:40 p.m., after an officer witnessed a man riding a Honda motorcycle travelling at about 167 km/h — 87 km/h over the posted speed limit.

The 39-year-old biker continued westbound on Silver Street, but made a Uturn and accelerated away when a second police officer approached from the opposite direction and motioned the motorcyclist to pull over.

In the meantime, the first police officer had stopped his vehicle on the road, blocking the eastbound lane to traffic.

Rather than stopping, the SIU determined the motorcycle rider tried to go around the stopped police cruiser. The rider’s bike hit the front corner of the cruiser and entered a ditch.

The SIU said the motorcycle rider was taken to West Lincoln Memorial Hospital

and diagnosed with a separated shoulder and fractured finger.

Four investigators, a forensic investigator, and a collision reconstructionist were assigned to the case. They interviewed the two police officers and the injured biker, and reviewed security camera footage from a nearby home and a business.

In his report, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote that the motorcycle rider was responsible for the crash that led to his injuries.

“It was, in fact, the complainant who was largely, if not solely, responsible for his collision with the SO’s (subject officer’s) police vehicle. Clearly, had the complainant stopped his motorcycle, as he was legally obligated to do, rather than trying to go around the front of the SO’s vehicle, he would not have struck the front corner of the SO’s police vehicle,” he wrote.

“I am satisfied that the officer did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law.

“Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with charges.”