SIU clears Hamilton police officer in connection with fatal collision

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Published January 27, 2022 at 7:53 pm

SIU investigates after Brampton pedestrian struck by police car

A Hamilton police officer will not be charged criminally in connection with the death of a 51-year-old woman in a collision last September.

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which is the province’s police watchdog, announced today (Jan. 27) that it had concluded its examination that looked into a pair of crashes that happened around 9 a.m. on Sept. 29, not far from Gage Avenue South and King Street East. Martino, director of the SIU, said it was clear that the officer did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law, and there was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.

At the time early last fall, reports indicated that Hamilton Police Service officers responded to a 911 call for a two-vehicle collision in that area of east Hamilton. The SIU says that the two officers came across the collision on Gage Ave., and told “one of the drivers before telling her to call 911 as he and another officer were responding to a priority call.”

They then say the driver of the other vehicle, which was reported at the time to be a stolen, black, 2008 GMC Sierra pickup truck, appearing to drive away from the scene of the collision. A pursuit ensued, and the driver of the truck struck a 2012 Hyundai Sonata. The 51-year-old woman who was operating the sedan died later that day, leading the SIU to invoke its mandate.

“The officers proceeded to stop the driver before he fled on East Bend Avenue North,” Martino surmised. “Officers briefly pursued the driver before he sped off and the officers resumed their travel to the original call for service. The driver then struck another vehicle on Balsam Avenue at Maplewood Avenue. The female driver of the vehicle that was struck died.”

The SIU conducts investigations into police activity where someone has been seriously injured, alleges sexual assault or has died.

The entire report into police conduct in the Sept. 29 crash is available at siu.on.ca, with a content warning that, “This page contains graphic content that can shock, offend and upset.”

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