The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) has issued their ruling on a major 2019 crash in Victoria.
The IIO has been investigating an August 24th, 2019 crash at Bay and Douglas for the past few months.
On February 5th, 2020, the agency released a report clearing Victoria Police of any wrongdoing after an officer decided not to pursue a pick-up truck which had sped away from an attempted traffic stop.
Just minutes later, that same pick-up truck ran a red light and t-boned a car, nearly killing the unsuspecting driver.
The IIO were investigating to see if police should have stopped the man before the crash occurred, thus preventing the near-deadly collision.
They consulted video footage of the incident, collected eye-witness statements, and accessed police records. After that, the police watchdog determined that the accident was in no way caused by Victoria Police’s actions.
“The evidence collected makes it clear that Officer 1 did no more than attempt a Motor Vehicle Act traffic stop, and made the appropriate decision not to pursue when the pick-up truck fled at high speed,” the report reads.
“What happened after that was the direct result of the actions of the pick-up’s driver.”
See more: Police tried to stop truck before high-speed crash in downtown Victoria (VIDEO)
The victim of the crash suffered serious injuries, including a broken ankle. The suspect driver was arrested after fleeing from the scene on foot.
A bystander was also struck, the report says, but did not suffer any serious injuries.
With the report, the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for consideration of charges.
