Essex County OPP cleared in crash involving stopped police cruiser

Essex County OPP aren’t to blame for an incident a year ago on Highway 401 where a parked, unmarked police car was rearended by a civilian vehicle, says the province’s Special Investigations Unit.

The 2017 crash left three occupants of the civilian vehicle with serious injuries that included multiple fractured ribs, fractured sternums and bowel trauma. In a report released on Wednesday, SIU director Tony Loparco wrote that those injuries, while tragic, were “totally unforeseeable” by the officer who had stopped his vehicle. According to Loparco, the collision was the result of the civilian driver’s actions alone: The driver veered onto the shoulder while trying to dislodge an eyelash from his vision.

On Dec. 23, 2017, in the middle of the day, an officer in an unmarked Essex County OPP Dodge Charger arrive at the scene of a pickup truck being removed from a ditch on the eastbound side of Highway 401, near Tilbury.

The officer parked on the shoulder of the roadway and put on his emergency lights. Another OPP vehicle that had previously arrived at the scene also had its emergency lights turned on.

At 2:51 p.m., a Volkswagen Touareg crossover SUV with five occupants struck the rear of the OPP Dodge Charger at high speed. The impact was powerful enough to push both vehicles several metres forward, crumple the Volkswagen’s front end, and shove the Dodge into a live lane of traffic. The officer was seated in the Dodge at the time, but his injuries weren’t considered serious. Through witness interviews and investigation, the SIU determined that at the time of the crash, the driver of the Volkswagen had been rubbing his right eye to try to clear an eyelash.

Not only was the Volkswagen travelling in the curb lane, but it left the roadway before hitting the OPP vehicle.

Loparco noted that Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act requires motorists to slow down, move over, and approach with caution when flashing lights are activated on an emergency vehicle or a tow truck.

Loparco also pointed out that if the Dodge Charger were not an OPP vehicle with emergency lights, but another civilian vehicle — the driver of the Volkswagen would still have been at fault for the crash.

There is no causal connection between the actions of the officer and what happened in the collision, Loparco concluded. “On this record, I can find no basis for the laying of criminal charges, and none shall issue.”