The province's police watchdog has been called in after a vehicle, driven by a suspected impaired driver, failed to stop for St. Thomas police and later crashed.
According to police, shortly after midnight on Thursday they received two calls about a vehicle being driven erratically in the city. One caller reported the vehicle did not stop at the scene of a crash. The second caller said there was a possible impaired driver in the area of the Highway 3 on ramp to First Avenue.
Officers found the vehicle on Balaclava Street and attempted to pull it over. The driver did not stop and officers disengaged out of concern for public safety, police said.
A short time later, the vehicle was found on Talbot Street where it had crashed after the driver lost control and hit a "fixed object" that disabled it. The suspected driver was arrested nearby.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was notified about the incident due to the police interaction prior to the crash. It has invoked its mandate and will be investigating. As a result, police will not be publicly releasing any other information for the time being.
