The driver of a pickup truck that took off from Halifax Regional Police officers and slammed into another vehicle in Dartmouth on Sunday morning has been found, according to Nova Scotia’s police watchdog.
The Serious Incident Response Team, known as SiRT, said Tuesday that police located the driver on Monday, the day after the crash, and identified her as an adult woman. She hasn’t been named, and no charges have been announced.
This is a separate case from the chase that ended at the Armdale Roundabout on Sunday evening. That one began with a hit and run on Dentith Road in Halifax about nine hours later, and police say they arrested the 33-year-old driver at the scene and charged her that night. SiRT’s release is only about the Dartmouth crash.
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The man in the other vehicle was taken to hospital by ambulance. SiRT says he was diagnosed with multiple serious injuries. There has been no update on his condition.
According to SiRT’s preliminary information, officers tried to stop what they suspected was a stolen vehicle on the morning of Oct. 11. Halifax police said in their own release Sunday that officers first spotted the truck, which had no licence plate, parked in a lot off Yorkshire Avenue Extension at about 10:35 a.m.
Police say the truck sped out of the lot as officers approached, and didn’t stop when they turned on their lights and siren. SiRT says it went into the intersection of Yorkshire Avenue Extension and Windmill Road and hit the man’s vehicle there.
The driver kept going after the crash. Halifax police said at the time that the truck, a newer black Ford F-150 with a tonneau cover, was last seen crossing the A. Murray MacKay Bridge.
Halifax police referred the case to SiRT that same morning, and the agency started investigating right away. It’s the independent team that looks into cases where someone is killed or seriously hurt in an incident involving police in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
A referral isn’t a finding that officers did anything wrong. SiRT’s investigation is run by a civilian director, who alone decides whether any charges should be laid against police once it’s done, and the team publishes a summary of what it found.
