No charges for Windsor officer who caused crash: SIU
A Windsor police officer disobeyed traffic lights before a collision that seriously injured an older driver — but criminal charges are not warranted, says Ontario's Special Investigations Unit.
In his decision, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote that he believes the Windsor police officer “drove dangerously as he travelled east along Tecumseh Road East toward the point of impact with the complainant's vehicle, at Roseville Garden Drive.”
Martino found that the officer committed “multiple Highway Traffic Act infractions,” including driving through at least two red lights at speeds ranging from 49 to 60 km/h.
GPS data showed the officer's police vehicle travelled as fast as 94 km/h elsewhere on Tecumseh Road East — slowing down at intersections, but not stopping.
The crash between the police vehicle and a Ford Escape resulted in a 78-year-old man suffering three fractured ribs.
The Ford Escape had the green light at the intersection.
“The collision was entirely avoidable,” Martino wrote. “Had the (officer) stopped, as he was obliged to do, he presumably would have seen the complainant enter the intersection ahead of his path of travel.”
However, the SIU determined there were enough extenuating considerations at play that the officer's conduct was not unreasonable.
At the time of the incident — on March 14, 2020, around 12:35 p.m. — the officer was responding to a potential domestic-related assault involving a possible weapon. A 911 call had been received about a woman who was reportedly threatening to smash a car with a baseball bat.
Martino wrote that while the nature of the call can't excuse the officer's failure to stop at red lights, “the fact that time was of the essence is a mitigating factor in the reasonableness analysis.”
The emergency lights and siren of the police vehicle were in activated mode at the time of the crash.
Examination of the collision found that a building — Chuck's Roadhouse Bar and Grill — obstructed the sightline of the civilian vehicle at the intersection of Tecumseh Road East and Roseville Garden Drive.
While the police vehicle exceeded the speed limit on Tecumseh Road East, its speeds were not “grossly excessive,” Martino wrote.
The Highway Traffic Act contains exemptions for emergency vehicles regarding speed limits, as well as proceeding into intersections without a green light.
In his final decision, Martino wrote that although the officer “directly caused or contributed to the collision that resulted in the complainant's injuries,” he can't conclude the officer's conduct was “a marked deviation from a reasonable level of care.”
“Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case and the file is closed.”
The Special Investigations Unit is a provincially-funded civilian oversight agency, called to review incidents with Ontario police officers involving serious injury, death, or allegations of sexual assault.