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An Edmonton officer has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing after a man died following a head-on collision on the Walterdale Bridge after fleeing police two years ago. On Tuesday, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) released the results of the investigation into the death of the man on July 14, 2022.
The man was driving the Honda southbound on 101 Street in Downtown Edmonton and just before 8 p.m., he came to a stop at a red light at Jasper Avenue.
The officers were directly behind the Honda in a marked police vehicle, with the subject officer driving. The emergency lights were activated and briefly, the siren. The Honda then accelerated through the red light and went southbound onto 101 Street, then Bellamy Hill Road, where the man drove through another red light at 97 Avenue and onto 104 Street.
The officers pursued the Honda with the emergency lights still activated. According to the ASIRT report, the police vehicle’s GPS showed the officers were travelling at 77 km/h at Jasper Avenue and up to 119 km/h on Bellamy Hill Road.
Once the Honda drove off from them, a supervising officer was notified. That officer directed the two in the vehicle to end the pursuit within about 30 seconds of it beginning, partly due to “lots of traffic.”
The subject officer slowed down considerably in the area of 104 Street and 96 Avenue, about 600 metres from the Walterdale Bridge.
Driver consumed vodka
Meanwhile, the driver of the Honda continued onto River Valley Road westbound, then turned south onto Walterdale Bridge, driving into oncoming traffic. The driver made a wide turn, ending up in the furthest lane on the west side of the bridge.
A number of vehicles were on the bridge at the time, including a taxi whose cab video showed a Ford Ranger in the west lane, driving normally. The Honda collided with the Ford head-on, causing both to spin on the bridge. A fire started in the Honda shortly after.
The driver of the Ford, who was considerably bruised from the collision, told investigators he was driving across the bridge in the far left lane when the Honda appeared. The Ford driver attempted to swerve out of the way but hit him.
A passenger of the Honda told investigators they had been drinking that afternoon and consumed 26 ounces of vodka between the two of them. He believed the driver of the Honda was going about 100 km/h when he fled police and was not wearing a seatbelt.
When he turned onto the bridge, he believed they were going between 80 and 90 km/h. The passenger received a fractured hand, knee and rib from the collision.
The officers noticed the collision and notified the supervising officer and asked for fire and emergency services. At this point, it had been about 75 seconds since the pursuit began.
“The (subject officer) discontinued his short pursuit and mitigated the risks it presented. As such, it cannot be said that the SO caused or contributed to the death or injury that resulted from the collision,” reads the ASIRT decision.
“While the death of the (affected person) was both tragic and criminal, that criminality relates to the conduct of the AP. The moral and legal responsibility for this death and injury rests with him, and not the (subject officer).”
Leduc officers cleared
In a second decision released by ASIRT Tuesday, the police watchdog found to Leduc RCMP members acted lawfully during an arrest on June 15, 2020.
The officers responded to a trouble-with-person call involving a man refusing to leave the property of a woman, trying to get his daughter to come home with him. When the officers wouldn’t force the daughter to go with him, he became agitated and yelled and swore at the officers from his wife’s vehicle.
The man then threw water from a water bottle at the officers. While the man acknowledged he was upset, he denied intentionally throwing the water at the officers and that it was an accident. However, a video showed the man whipping around the bottle, causing the water to come out, which was grounds for arrest for assault.
The wife drove both of them home and the officers followed. The man attempted to get inside the house, resisted arrest and one officer drew a Taser. More officers arrived and the man was brought to the ground.
The man yelled repeatedly he could not breathe and that it was police brutality. He was placed in handcuffs and brought to the Leduc detachment. He stated his back and hand hurt and EMS examined him but found no obvious physical injuries. However, his blood sugar was off so he was taken to hospital and discharged later that night.
ASIRT found there was “no evidence to support any belief that they or any other officer engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to an offence” and the use of force was necessary and reasonable.
Source: EdmontonJournal
