SIU Ends Probe into Man's Death in Ottawa, But Notes 'Evidence of Misconduct'
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) announced it has ended its investigation into the death of a 24-year-old man in Ottawa in late January, but also stated that there appeared to be evidence of misconduct by Ottawa police officers.
The man had been involved in a single-vehicle collision on the night of Jan. 23, and while Ottawa Police Service officers attended the scene about two hours later, they failed to locate him. His body was not found until police returned to the site the next morning.
Based on the SIU's preliminary inquiries, including review of video footage that captured the incident in part and the results of the postmortem examination, Director Joseph Martino was satisfied the investigation should be discontinued, the provincial police watchdog said in a release on Monday, May 25.
The SIU stated that a pathologist had attributed the man's death to multiple blunt-force injuries and had said that, given the nature of those injuries, he would have been dead by the time the first officers arrived at the scene.
On this record, there being no reason to believe that any officer caused or contributed to the man's death, the SIU was without statutory jurisdiction to investigate the incident, the release stated.
That said, Director Martino identified what appeared to be evidence of misconduct by the officers who initially attended the scene in connection with their investigation of the collision, in contravention of section 19 of the Police Code of Conduct. It said Martino would be referring the matter to the OPS police chief and the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.
Section 19 of the Police Code of Conduct states: A police officer shall not, by act or omission, fail to perform their duties appropriately without lawful excuse if, at the time, they know or reasonably ought to know that their act or omission would amount to a failure to perform their duties appropriately.
According to the SIU release, on Jan. 23 the man was driving a Dodge Caravan southbound on Bank Street, approaching Morningside Avenue, when he lost control of the vehicle, which crossed into the northbound lane before entering a snow-covered ditch. It said the man was ejected from the vehicle and suffered catastrophic injuries that resulted in his death.
The vehicle was travelling at about 170 km/h in a 60 km/h zone about five seconds before the collision, and the man's blood alcohol concentration was more than twice the legal limit, the SIU said. The crash happened at about 8:20 p.m., and at 9:43 p.m. a passing motorist stopped at the scene of the crash and called 911. Officers were sent to the location at about 10:13 p.m., the SIU said, and after searching the vehicle and the surrounding area without locating anyone, they left the scene at about 11 p.m.
