2 officers involved in wrong-way highway crash that killed 4, including baby, not speaking: SIU
Posted June 12, 2024 1:33 pm.
Last Updated June 12, 2024 1:44 pm.
The province’s police watchdog says the two police officers involved in the fatal wrong-way crash on Highway 401 back in April that killed four people, including a baby, have not spoken with investigators.
The Special Investigations Unit says neither of the officers, designated as subject officials, have submitted to an interview or provided their duty notes “as is their legal right.”
The SIU says 36 civilian witnesses have been identified and interviewed so far while interviews with 19 other witness officials are ongoing.
“At this time, the SIU is in possession of more than 100 videos, obtained from in-car camera footage, drone footage, body-worn camera footage, Ministry of Transportation footage and civilian recordings,” the agency said in an update on Wednesday.
Two Indian nationals along with a three-month-old baby boy were killed in the multi-vehicle wrong-way crash on April 29 in Whitby when Durham police began pursuing two suspects who had allegedly robbed an LCBO in Clarington. The driver of the cargo van fleeing police was also killed in the crash. Two other people, the parents of the child, were seriously injured but survived the crash as did the second occupant of the van.
The SIU says the infant’s mother, a 27-year-old woman, has been released from hospital while the 38-year-old occupant of the cargo van remains in hospital.
Audio of the chase reveals at least one Ontario Provincial Police officer expressed concern that “someone is going to get hurt” after seeing the high-speed chase going in the wrong direction on the highway.
Questions have now been raised about the police pursuit and whether it contravened the province’s Community Safety and Policing Act.
