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No charges in Avening collision involving OPP cruiser, says SIU

While the director ruled there are no grounds for charges against the officer involved in the collision, the interim director of the SIU said the officer was not “entirely faultless.”
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Ontario Special Investigations Unit logo. File photo

The director of the Special Investigations Unit has ruled there will be no charges laid against a police officer involved in a collision on Airport Road in Avening nearly a year ago.

According to Joseph Martino, interim director of the SIU, the “lion’s share” of the responsibility for a Nov. 25, 2018, collision falls on the civilian driver who turned left into a lane for oncoming traffic and collided with the OPP cruiser.

The collision occurred on Airport Road south of Avening. The driver of a Pontiac sedan was travelling with two passengers and was attempting to turn left from Airport Road onto Side Road 3 and 4 Nottawasaga.

While turning left, the Pontiac collided with an oncoming OPP cruiser (a Ford). The driver of the Pontiac suffered a fractured sternum and rib. He is 75 years old.

All three occupants of the Pontiac were taken to the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital via ambulance. The police officer also went to the hospital in an OPP cruiser.

The police officer was from the Wellington OPP detachment and was travelling to a local OPP.

The SIU is called to investigate any incident involving police officers where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates municipal, regional, and provincial police services across Ontario.

While the director ruled there are no grounds for charges against the officer involved in the collision, he said the officer was not “entirely faultless.”

“If liability is to be found in the [officer’s] conduct, it rests with the officer’s speed as he approached the intersection,” states the SIU director’s report.

Evidence shows the officer was approaching the intersection at about 96 km/h. The area was posted with an 80 km/h speed limit and was about to drop down to 60 km/h. Evidence shows the officer applied the brakes and had slowed to 59 km/h prior to the collision.

“The [officer] candidly acknowledges that he would have had a greater chance of avoiding the collision had his speed been lower,” states the SIU report. “There is no evidence of any distracted driving on the part of the [officer] … In fact, there was little in the prevailing environmental conditions at the time that would have exacerbated the risk inherent in the officer's speed.”

The SIU report indicates light-to-non-existent traffic, roads in good condition, clear weather, and good visibility, though it was dark.

“The officer’s conduct did not, in my view, amount to a marked departure from a level of care that a reasonable person would have observed,” stated the report.

To read the full report by the SIU interim director, click here.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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