in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
March 08, 2022
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a West Grey Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of a 40-year-old man, and serious injuries suffered by 14-year-old girl and 26-year-old man, following a police pursuit east of Durham last November.
On November 7, 2021, officers responded to stop the driver of a stolen pickup truck being operated erratically and at speeds upward of 150 km/h. Police deployed a spike stick ahead of the truck on Grey County Road 4 at Camp Oliver Road as it approached Durham. The driver ran over the stick, continued for a distance, and struck a car travelling the other way, killing the driver of the car and seriously injuring his daughter.
Director Martino was unable to conclude that the use of the spike stick was unreasonable in the circumstances. The file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision)
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid publicly report the results of its investigations
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