Officer Cleared In Fatal Whitby Crash: SIU
Posted November 1, 2010 8:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Durham Regional Police Officer has been cleared in a fatal Whitby crash.
Ioana Bocunescu, 40, was killed on August 27. She was a passenger on a motorcycle that was involved in a police pursuit. She fell off the back on Highway 401 just east of the Lake Ridge Road. Bocunescu was pronounced dead at the scene.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit found there were no reasonable grounds to charge the officer involved. The driver of the motorcycle has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.
The SIU said an officer in a fully marked cruiser attempted to pull over the driver of the motorcycle around 11:30pm. But the driver didn’t stop. Instead, the SIU said, the driver entered the westbound paved centre median, and accelerated out of sight.
He then made a number of lane changes. During one of these lane changes, Bocunescu fell. She was struck by a number of vehicles and fatally injured.
Even after Bocunescu fell, the driver of the motorcycle did not stop. The officer found Bocunescu on the road and called for assistance.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the subject officer entered into a suspect apprehension pursuit or had any physical contact with the motorcycle,” director Ian Scott said.
“Accordingly, there is no causal relationship between the actions of the subject officer and the tragic death of Ms. Bocunescu,” Scott added.
Rashid Soujah, 37, has been charged with manslaughter.
