A Victoria Police officer received a violation ticket after they ran a red light and crashed into an SUV in downtown Victoria earlier this year.
In a statement released Tuesday, the department stated that the officer driving a police vehicle was involved in a collision with another vehicle at the intersection of Douglas and Johnson streets on July 8, 2020.
An Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) investigation was launched after dashcam footage of the incident was shared online.
The investigation found that the officer failed to stop at a red light at the intersection and was served a violation ticket plus victim surcharge totalling $167, along with two demerit points. The statement from VicPD says the officer paid the ticket promptly.
There were no injuries in the collision to either the officer or the lone occupant of the SUV, but both vehicles incurred heavy damage.
The dashcam videos were shared with Victoria Buzz by Alexander Woodman on July 8:
In one of the videos, the owner of the dascham can be heard saying “You crossed the light, sir!” to the police officer in the cruiser. The officer can be heard responding with “I know”.
Under the Motor Vehicle Act in B.C., police officers are allowed to disregard red lights, stop signs, and other traffic controls without deploying their sirens and lights under specific circumstances.
In particular, officers can do this if they are in the middle of a case or investigation in which they deem the harm to public posed by a threat is greater than the risks that come with speeding through a red light without their emergency lights or siren on.
They may also run red lights if they have “reasonable grounds to believe that it is safe to operate the emergency vehicle without operating an emergency siren or an emergency light and siren”.
No information on the circumstances surrounding this officer’s decision has been made available by VicPD.
