Ottawa police officers won't face charges after pursuit led to crash

Ontario's police watchdog will not lay charges against a pair of police officers after a 28-year-old woman was seriously injured in a crash with another driver who was fleeing.

The woman was heading west on Ogilvie Road on the night of May 22, 2021, and was crossing Cyrville Road when her car was struck by the driver of a Mercedes Benz who had run the red light, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Friday.

A few minutes before the crash, two Ottawa police officers had pulled the driver over on St. Laurent Boulevard for a possible Highway Traffic Act violation.

When the officers spotted what might have been cannabis in the vehicle, they asked the driver and his passenger to get out — at which point the driver turned off the engine, turned it back on, said "Sorry" and sped off, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his report.

While they pursued the Mercedes Benz with their emergency lights on, at times hitting 100 km/h on narrow residential streets, the officers did "not appear to have actually imperilled any pedestrian and vehicular traffic," wrote Martino.

They also ended their chase well before the crash, he added.

The SIU conducts criminal investigations into allegations involving police that are linked to serious injury, death or sexual assault.

The two officers declined to be interviewed for the investigation.