Durham officers, dispatchers ordered to take course on pursuits

Program is annual requirement for service members

Days after last week’s wrong-way police chase on Highway 401 ended in the deaths of four people, including an infant, Durham Regional Police Service informed officers and 911 call-takers that they must complete a mandatory online course on suspect pursuits within the next two months.

Effective last Friday, every sworn Durham officer and emergency dispatcher has been directed to complete a “refresher” on suspect-apprehension pursuits, Deputy Police Chief Chris Kirkpatrick confirmed to the Star. The online course must be completed by early July.

The pursuit course is an annual requirement, Kirkpatrick said. But the reminder to staff to complete the refresher was prompted by last week’s fatal 401 crash, which was “fresh in everyone’s minds,” he said.

The thinking was “let’s get it out there, let’s be proactive with what we’re doing” and ensure that the refresher gets completed, Kirkpatrick said.

Durham police have faced questions about their officers’ April 29 pursuit of a U-Haul van driving the wrong way on Highway 401, a highspeed chase involving at least six Durham police cruisers that ended in a fiery, multi-vehicle collision.

The pursuit — which began with a robbery at a Bowmanville LCBO by a suspect who allegedly pulled a knife on an off-duty Durham cop — is under investigation by Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit. Last week, the SIU confirmed its probe is focusing on the actions of two officers.

According to an internal report seen by the Star, officers involved in the 20-minute chase had been called off the pursuit by a supervisor minutes before the collision, but police continued to give chase after the van began driving the wrong way on the 401, via Stevenson Road in Oshawa. One of the officers involved said they believed the visible police presence on the highway would alert the public that something was wrong, and help them get out of the way.

Durham police have not commented on the incident, citing the ongoing SIU investigation. In a statement after the crash, the force said it was co-operating with the SIU probe and that “our thoughts are with those impacted by this tragedy.”

Manivannan Srinivasapillai and Mahalakshmi Ananthakrishnan were killed alongside their threemonth-old grandson, Aditya Vivaan, when the U-Haul collided with their Nissan Sentra. The baby’s parents survived the crash but said in a public statement they are in “agony” following the deaths.

Gagandeep Singh, 21, who the Star has confirmed was the driver of the U-Haul van, was also killed in the collision.

Ontario legislation and police force policies limit when and how police should launch a pursuit, given the inherent dangers. Officers must continually assess whether the chase is safe, and Ontario legislation requires police to determine if “the risk to public safety that may result from the pursuit is outweighed by the risk to public safety” if the suspect fleeing is not caught.

An internal Durham police direction on pursuits, a copy of which was viewed by the Star, sets out actions officers should and shouldn’t take when chasing a suspect. That includes directing officers to stop chasing a suspect if a criminal offence “such as dangerous driving” occurs during the pursuit.