The province’s police oversight agency have cleared a London police officer of wrongdoing following an incident earlier this year that left a woman dead.
According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), at around 2:20 a.m. on April 19 a London police officer was on general patrol in the area of Chesterfield Avenue when she spotted a GMC 3500HD that was a vehicle of interest in an investigation. The officer began to follow the pickup truck when it took off at a high rate of speed.
A short time later, the suspect vehicle travelled through a red light at the intersection Adelaide Street South and Thompson Road when it struck a Ford F-150. The driver of the Ford, a 62-year-old woman, died on scene as a result of the collision.
The officer stopped at the crash site and arrested an occupant of the GMC. The 38-year-old driver of the GMC took off from the scene, the SIU said, but he was later found and arrested by police.
In his analysis of the incident, SIU Director Joseph Martino said the officer’s execution of the brief pursuit did not break any laws.
“[The officer] decided to follow a hunch about a vehicle that seemed to be operating suspiciously, and followed it to ascertain whether it had any legitimate business in the area,” Martino said. “As it turned out, her instinct proved right. The pick-up truck [the suspect] was driving was, in fact, stolen.”
Martino noted that while the officer may have travelled through one or more stop signs without conducting full stops, he said there is no evidence to suggest anyone was placed at risk from her conduct.
“There is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges,” Martino concluded. "The file is closed.”
