B.C.’s police watchdog has concluded a Vancouver Police Officer “did not play a role” in a horrific crash in North Burnaby last month that killed one person and left two others injured.
Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Hastings Street and Willingdon Avenue just before 5 a.m. on July 19 for a collision between a silver Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and a Toyota Supra.
The crash killed a female passenger in the Supra and injured both drivers, according to police.
The Independent Investigations Office launched an investigation to determine whether a VPD officer who followed the Silverado had contributed to the crash.
The officer first spotted the pickup driving eastbound on East Hastings Street and running a red light at Clark Drive at a “high rate of speed,” according to an IIO news release Tuesday.
The officer did a U-turn at Clark Drive and followed the truck on East Hastings Street but didn’t give chase, according to the release.
“Video and photographic evidence from multiple sources confirms that the officer who observed the speeding truck did not attempt to stop it, but instead drove in the same direction after broadcasting the truck’s information to other officers in the area,” stated the release. “The evidence shows the officer driving at a low rate of speed and without activating their emergency lights some distance behind the Silverado.”
After reviewing “video footage from many sources, photographs, and police records,” the IIO’s chief civilian director Ron MacDonald concluded neither police actions nor inaction were responsible for the collision, according to the release.
“Given the recklessness exhibited by the driver of the Silverado, the officer appropriately determined that a pursuit could be unsafe and did not attempt it,” the release said. “The officer therefore did not play a role in the subsequent collision, nor the tragic death and injuries that followed.”
The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in British Columbia. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
Email Cornelia Naylor at [email protected]
