Ontario’s police watchdog has criminally charged two officers in a wrong-way highway pursuit that ended in a crash and killed four people, including an infant and his grandparents.
The Special Investigations Unit says two Durham regional police officers have each been charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The April 2024 crash on Highway 401 east of Toronto raised questions about why police allegedly pursued a robbery suspect into oncoming traffic on one of Canada’s busiest highways.
The SIU says the ensuing six-vehicle crash killed a 60-year-old man, 55-year-old woman, their infant grandson and the 21-year-old driver of a cargo van chased by police.
The watchdog says three other people were seriously injured, including a passenger in the cargo van.
The SIU says an off-duty officer first reported an alleged robbery at a Clarington, Ont., liquor store before officers spotted the suspect van and began their pursuit, winding through several streets before the van got on the highway near Steveson Road in Oshawa.
(The Canadian Press)
