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Police watchdog recommending charges in 2020 crash involving transit cop

IIO says officer ‘may have committed offences in relation to the operation of a police vehicle’
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The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is recommending charges to the B.C. Prosecution Service for a November 2020 collision that involved a white Volkswagen Jetta and an unmarked transit police vehicle. (File photo: Shane MacKichan)

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is recommending charges to the B.C. Prosecution Service for a November 2020 collision.

It was in January that the IIO said it would be investigating the crash between a sedan and an unmarked transit police vehicle that was responding to an unrelated incident on Nov. 4, 2020 at the intersection of 128 Street and 93 Avenue.

A Black Press Media freelancer on scene said the force of the crash sent both of the vehicles onto the sidewalk.

At the time, the police watchdog said B.C. Emergency Health Services transported the sole occupants of both the white Volkswagen Jetta and the police vehicle, which was being driven by a Metro Vancouver Transit Police officer, to the hospital with injuries.

READ ALSO: Police watchdog investigating Surrey crash that injured transit cop, another driver, Jan. 15, 2021

In a release dated Sept. 28, IIO Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald said he reviewed the evidence and determined “reasonable grounds exist to believe that an officer may have committed offences in relation to the operation of a police vehicle.”

The release does not specify what those offences are.

The release adds the IIO has now forwarded a report to the prosecution service for them to consider charges.

In order to approve charges, the release notes, the B.C. Prosecution Service “must be satisfied there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence gathered by the IIO, and that prosecution be required in the public interest.”

The IIO says it will not be making any additional comments about the facts of this case as the matter is now with the Crown.

Following the crash, Metro Vancouver Transit Police said in a release the officer was responding to another officer’s request for “immediate assistance” in locating a suspect with a Canada-wide warrant who reportedly fled from police at Surrey Central SkyTrain station.

Transit police said the officer involved in the crash had “serious, but non-life-threatening injuries including a fractured hip.” He had at least two surgeries.

READ ALSO: Fugitive at large as transit cop, another driver sent to hospital in Whalley traffic crash, Nov. 5, 2020



lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com

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The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is recommending charges to the B.C. Prosecution Service for a November 2020 collision that involved a white Volkswagen Jetta and an unmarked transit police vehicle. (File photo: Shane MacKichan)


Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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