The province's police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), has cleared two West Shore RCMP officers of any wrongdoing in relation to a high-speed crash.
On Apr. 23, two RCMP members were attending a traffic accident when they were alerted of two vehicles speeding down Veterans Memorial Parkway that were possibly street racing.
Both officers climbed into their cruisers, turned on their emergency lights and sirens and set off to the intersection of the parkway and Kelly Road in Langford.
The officers entered the same side of the intersection when one cruiser spotted the two suspect vehicles speeding towards them northbound.
The first suspect vehicle allegedly sped straight through the intersection while the second vehicle attempted to turn right at high speed onto Kelly Road. According to the IIO, the driver lost control of their Kia vehicle and struck a curb, lifting it onto its two right wheels before striking a stopped commercial 18-wheeler at the intersection.
Investigators say that the vehicle was travelling 109 km/h when entering the intersection and tried to slow to a speed of 46 km/h when it attempted to make the turn and collided with the truck.
The driver of the Kia suffered serious injuries in the crash, including a broken arm and three spinal fractures. The driver of the truck was unharmed.
The officers removed the driver from the vehicle and placed him on the bumper of a nearby van. After a short time, the officers discovered a firearm in the Kia and moved the driver to the ground and placed him in handcuffs.
According to the IIO, eyewitnesses said the arrest looked normal and one civilian witness even described the incident as "gentle."
A toxicology report would later reveal that the driver had a number of drugs in his system, including amphetamines, methamphetamines, ketamine, opiates, and fentanyl.
The IIO ruled that the collision was not caused by an officer and that the crash only took place because of the driver's decision to attempt a high-speed turn.
"The only reasonable interpretation of the evidence is that AP [the driver], approaching a red light at the intersection ahead and seeing the emergency lights of police vehicles there, decided to make a high-speed evasive turn onto the cross street," reads the IIO report.
"That decision, and his failure to execute it successfully, caused the crash and the injuries. Finally, nothing in the evidence suggests any unjustified or excessive application of force by any officer in the arrest of [the driver], following the discovery of a suspicious firearm in the vehicle he had just crashed while trying to evade police."
