Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has determined that no charges should be laid against a London police officer after a cruiser was involved in a collision that left a woman with a broken arm.
The SIU has concluded its investigation into the July 30 collision at the intersection of Adelaide Street North and Nelson Street. According to the SIU, the officer was northbound on Adelaide when the driver of a Toyota Echo that was going south turned left in front of the cruiser.
The collision left the woman who was driving the Echo with a fracture of the radial bone in one of her arms.
"As section 141(5) of the HTA makes clear, there is a heavy onus on motorists to refrain from making left turns at intersections unless they can do so safely," SIU Director Joseph Martino said in his final report. "It would appear that the complainant failed in that obligation. While the complainant initially slowed her vehicle as it entered the intersection, the video evidence establishes that she then accelerated into her left turn directly into the path of the SO (subject officer), who was unable to avoid a collision."
In the report, Martino points out that the officer was travelling at around 70 kilometres per hour in a 50 km/h zone. However, he added that video evidence shows that the officer was following the flow of traffic.
"This does not excuse the officer’s speed, but it is a mitigating factor in the reasonableness assessment of the complainant’s conduct," he said.
Martino said the file is now closed.
