The Special Investigations Unit says it doesn’t have any grounds to charge a North Bay OPP officer after his vehicle collided with a car at a high rate of speed.
The SIU says the reason for no charges is because the officer was performing his duties at the time of the collision last December 22nd.
The SIU says the OPP got a call just before 5:00PM on the day in question of a vehicle that had gone into a ditch in Bonfield.
The OPP cruiser was eastbound on Highway 17 responding to the call when a vehicle entered the highway from a side road.
The SIU says the car had first stopped before driving onto the highway when the collision occurred.
The SIU says it was dark and the female driver of the car couldn’t tell how fast the OPP cruiser was approaching, plus the cruiser didn’t have its rooftop lights on.
The speed limit on that stretch of the highway is 90 kilometres an hour and the OPP cruiser was doing 135 kilometres an hour.
The female driver told the SIU during its investigation that she thought she had time to make the turn onto Highway 17.
The woman suffered two cracked ribs and the officer broke his left wrist.
The SIU says that while it’s unfortunate that both drivers were injured it has no grounds to charge the officer because he was performing his duties.
