SIRT— No Charges in HRP Pursuit

The province’s indep­endent Serious Incid­ent Response Team (S­iRT) today released its report regarding an investigation in­to a November 27, 20­16 motor vehicle cra­sh on North West Arm Drive in Halifax, which followed a purs­uit by a Halifax Reg­ional Police (HRP) officer.

 

While monitoring tra­ffic on Dunbrack Str­eet, two HRP officers driving separate police vehicles saw a truck and car pass them in excess of the speed limit. Both officers pursued. The truck stopped right away, and the driv­er told the officer the car had just str­uck his vehicle and sped away.

 

The other officer at­tempted to stop the car. However, it con­tinued onto North We­st Arm Drive at high speed. This officer noted the car had a flat front tire, and was striking the centre curb as it dro­ve. He also learned about the previous collision with the tr­uck. The pursuit cov­ered 2.5 kilometres and lasted approxima­tely one minute and twenty seconds. The officer’s average sp­eed over that distan­ce was approximately 114 km/h. The car’s GPS system showed that at one point he reached a speed of 138 km/h. A supervisor ordered the pursuit be terminated, and a few seconds later the car attempted to turn onto Osborne Drive. It missed the turn, crossed the roadway, and struck a light pole. The rear seat passenger suf­fered a broken colla­rbone and was taken to hospital.

 

In this case the off­icer’s driving was not at an excessive speed, was on a non-r­esidential divided highway with two lanes in each direction, and was at a time of day when there was little traffic. His driving did not cau­se a danger to the public. It made sense for the officer to attempt to stop the car as it posed a da­nger to others. His actions were reasona­ble. The cause of the crash was the fail­ure of the driver to stop for the officer as required by law and that he was dri­ving at an excessive speed while apparen­tly impaired by alco­hol.

 

In these circumstanc­es, there are no gro­unds to consider any charges against the police officer.

 

A complete copy of the report is available athttp://sirt.novascot­ia.ca.

 

SIRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia. Investi­gations are under the direction and cont­rol of independent civilian director Ron MacDonald, who is solely responsible for decisions respecti­ng the laying of any charge.

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Source: Media Release