SiRT investigation finds no wrongdoing by RCMP officer
The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) has ruled that no charges will be laid after a side-by-side collided with an RCMP truck in Hartland last May.
On Sunday evening, May 17, a firefighter responding to an off-road call on his all-terrain vehicle was injured after his ATV crashed into an RCMP vehicle.
The accident happened on Rockland Road.
The firefighter sustained a head injury, a broken wrist, and lacerations during the accident.
The incident was immediately referred to SiRT, and an investigation was conducted.
In its decision, dated Aug. 25, SiRT noted that no charges would be laid.
“After a careful review of the evidence and the law, I have determined that there are no reasonable
grounds to believe the [RCMP officer] committed a criminal or provincial offence,” SiRT Director Erin Nauss wrote.
The report noted that the side-by-side had no emergency lighting or equipment on board.
A collision reconstructionist’s report said the vehicles were alongside one another when the collision occurred, with the ATV making an abrupt turn, crashing into the police vehicle. The report also noted that the RCMP vehicle was travelling at approximately 90 km/hr at the time of the crash. Neither the officer nor the volunteer firefighter was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The investigation included interviews with the firefighter and those who attended the scene, as well as a review of the officer’s body camera footage and other video footage collected by witnesses.
“The [officer] was responding to a call, and it was reasonable for him to be travelling the speed he was travelling with his emergency equipment [lights and sirens] activated. Emergency vehicles have the
right of way on a roadway, and it was reasonable for the police vehicle to pass the ATV. A reasonable person would not have foreseen the risk of the ATV turning as the police vehicle was passing,” wrote Nauss in her report.
During his interview, the injured firefighter said he did not hear sirens or see the RCMP vehicle until he turned and hit it. He noted he was responding to the call in his personal vehicle because it was an off-road accident, adding that many officers use their personal vehicles to get to calls.
