SIU clears Toronto police officer in crash following pursuit of robbery suspect

A Toronto police officer will not face any charges for his involvement in a crash earlier this year that injured another man despite the fact the province’s police watchdog determined the officer was not as careful as he should have been.

The crash occurred just before 5 p.m. on March 29 at the intersection of Humberline Drive and Finch Avenue West.

The Special Investigations Unit says police pursued a vehicle after responding to a break-and-enter at a business nearby Claireville Drive. The officer was driving southbound on Humberline Drive when it entered the intersection at Finch and struck an eastbound Mercedes Sprinter van.

The driver of the van, a 61-year-old man, was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries which were later diagnosed as two fractured vertebrae. The officer was also treated for his injuries and released.

“The officer failed to stop at a red light, despite being required to and further he accelerated through the intersection without ensuring traffic in all directions had fully yielded,” the SIU report concluded. “The officer struck a Mercedes Sprinter van that had entered the intersection on a greenlight.”

SIU director Joseph Martino said that while the officer failed to stop at the red light as he was required to do under the Highway Traffic Act, and was not as careful as he should have been, his conduct “fell short of transgressing the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law.”

The officer involved in the crash did not speak to the SIU or provide his notes, which is within their right.