Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is opting against charging an OPP officer over a collision with a snowmachine in Wawa last spring.
SIU Director Joseph Martino says he's determined "there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the [unnamed officer] committed a criminal offence in connection with the collision", which saw a snowmobile struck by an OPP cruiser while crossing Highway 101 at the intersection with Gladstone Avenue around 4 pm on April 3rd.
The snowmobiler was treated for multiple fractures of his left leg.
The SIU report says the central focus was the officer's speed: GPS data shows the cruiser sped up from 111 kilometres an hour to 136 kilometres an hour about six kilometres from the collision - where the speed limit is still 90 kilometres an hour - and the speed rose as high as 152 kilometres an hour, but had dropped down to about 71 kilometres an hour by the point of impact, where the speed limit is 50 kilometres an hour.
Director Martino notes he believes speed was the "pivotal factor" in the collision, as the snowmobiler likely didn't see the cruiser when he entered the intersection while the officer appears to have seen the snowmobile, but couldn't avoid the collision due to the cruiser’s speed.
Martino also says the risk stemming from the high speed was aggravated by the officer's failure to activate the cruiser's emergency lights or siren - which should have been done, particularly in the slower speed zone - and Martino does say it's "difficult to countenance the persistence" of the vehicle's excessive speed, as the officer was only responding to a "property offence", a theft call.
However, Martino says the officer was executing his duty by responding to the theft call and therefore was exempt from speed limits, further suggesting snowbanks on the shoulder of the highway, trees and shrubs on both sides of the snowmobile trail, and a nearby "no parking" sign may have obstructed line of sight, contributing to the collision.
In the end, Martino concludes "while one may legitimately criticize the [officer] for the manner in which he operated his police cruiser in the moments leading to" the collision, he cannot "reasonably conclude that the officer's conduct was so substandard as to amount to a marked deviation from a reasonable level of care", so there are no grounds for charges and the file is now closed.
The report can be found on the SIU's website.