Community News

OFFICERS CLEARED IN CHASE THAT ENDED WITH SUSPECT'S DEATH

JEFF MITCHELL jmitchell@durham region.com

Durham and OPP police officers have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the death of a man who killed himself after a wild pursuit on Hwy. 401 in January.

The 45-year-old man, who has not been identified, died of self-inflicted injuries caused by a machete after a vehicle he had hijacked was disabled by a spike belt and police closed in at the intersection of Hwy. 401 and 115 in Clarington in January, according to a report by Joseph Martino, Director of the Special Investigations Unit. Numerous 911 calls were made to police as the vehicle sped west along the highway from Cobourg, reaching speeds of 170 km/h, the report says.

The SIU investigates incidents of death or serious injury involving police.

Martino found no officer involved in the incident caused the injuries that led to the suspect's death.

"There is no indication of any force having been directly applied to the (suspect) by any police officer, and certainly none in connection with the mortal neck wounds he suffered," he wrote.

"Those, the evidence makes clear, were self-inflicted ... at the end of a police pursuit."

The incident began on the morning of Jan. 9 with a report of an aggressive driver who had been involved in a two-vehicle collision on eastbound Hwy. 401 at Hwy. 28 in Port Hope. After rushing at vehicles on the highway the suspect fled the scene on foot, leaving a handgun on the seat of his vehicle, according to the report.

The suspect then crossed over Hwy. 401 and walked to a Tim Hortons restaurant, where he forced his way into the back seat of a Dodge Ram in the drive-through line and threatened two occupants with a machete.

"From the rear driver's seat, the (suspect) ordered

the driver ... to drive away from the service centre at knifepoint," the report says.

The truck tore away from the restaurant and entered the westbound lanes of Hwy. 401 with OPP officers in pursuit.

"The driving behaviour of the pickup truck was described as aggressive due to speeds, 146 — 170 km/h," Martino notes in the report.

The truck struck a spike belt deployed by OPP on the highway near Newcastle and proceeded west with two flat tires. The driver steered the disabled truck into the northbound lanes of Hwy. 115, where it was forced off the roadway by converging police cruisers, according to the report.

As the truck came to a stop, the two civilians who had been abducted leapt from the vehicle. As police closed in the suspect "turned the weapon on himself and cut his neck," the report says. "He quickly lapsed into unconsciousness and lost vital signs."

The man was airlifted from the scene by an Ornge air ambulance. Officers attempted to render first aid to the suspect at the scene,

Martino noted.

Martino found that tactics used by police during the pursuit carried a certain amount of risk to the public but that under the circumstances, they were reasonable

"The attempted rolling blocks of the truck, the deployment of a spike belt, and, finally, the use (of a) cruiser to force the truck off the on-ramp onto the ditch were tactics reasonably available to the officers in their attempts to stop the vehicle," Martino found. "It is true that these manoeuvres carried with them risks to the public. I am satisfied, however, that those risks were not disproportionate to the countervailing risks of allowing the truck, containing hostages and operated for stretches at speeds in the neighbourhood of 160 to 170 km/h, to continue its flight from police."

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2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281590949172215

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