Cops Cleared In Chase That Killed Two Best Friends
Posted November 22, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a heartbreaking case that made much of the city weep – two innocent best friends killed together when their cab was struck by a stolen car at Finch and Islington during a police chase. Now the province’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared the two cops involved in the incident, which took the lives of Aleisha Ashley and Monica McKnight last June.
The pair had been visiting an aunt and ironically decided taking a cab home was the safest route. But then they ran into a pilfered Acura driven by 15-year-old Chevron Josephs, who was trying to elude police.
The SIU has now revealed a lot more about what really happened that night and the tragic set of coincidences that contributed to the tragedy. It began on a totally separate case and it was a coincidence that the subject officers were in the area at all. They were answering a gun call, after a woman called police to report an armed man was trying to break into her home.
As they were searching for that suspect, the Acura passed them slowly in the early morning darkness without any headlights or taillights on, instantly attracting their attention. When they checked the license plate, they discovered it was stolen.
The cops gave chase as the car suddenly sped up ahead of them, the driver clearly trying to lose his unwanted tail. He reached speeds of 120 kilometres an hour but 90 seconds later, the pursuit came to a terrible end when the vehicle crashed into one taxi, which promptly careened into another, killing both passengers in the latter cab and the suspect.
Witnesses told investigators the cops appeared to be exercising proper restraint, were cognizant they were in a populated area and weren’t going as fast as the car they were chasing. Director James Cornish now says the lawmen had reason to believe the cases were connected and that the public could be at risk because of their previously hunted armed suspect.
“Both subject officers, who were driving the cruisers, decided to follow the Acura believing as well that it may be involved in the gun call,” he writes. “Once the emergency lights of the cruisers were activated, the Acura increased its speed to in excess of twice the posted speed limit and was headed to the area where the gun call originated …
“There is no suggestion that the cruisers ever made contact with the Acura, nor can it fairly be said in my view that the manner in which the subject officers operated their cruisers unduly “pushed” the Acura or otherwise prevented it from coming to a safe stop.”
Cornish claims the duo acted in the interests of public safety and thus aren’t guilty of any criminal acts and no further actions will be taken against them.
