MOOSE JAW — Saskatchewan's police watchdog has cleared an officer of any wrongdoing after investigating the death of a man following a single-vehicle rollover in Moose Jaw in 2024.
The Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) said its investigation found no police officer committed an offence in connection with the Nov. 7, 2024, incident.
The civilian executive director's public report can now be accessed online: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca:443/api/v1/products/129231/formats/155361/download
Details of the 2024 rollover:
On Nov. 7, at 11:42 p.m., MJPS received a call reporting that a silver Honda was driving erratically and was chasing the caller's vehicle. The caller further reported that these events were preceded by a physical altercation. At approximately 11:44 p.m., MJPS received a second call regarding the same vehicle. At approximately 11:47 p.m., a member of MJPS operating a marked police vehicle observed the vehicle headed northbound on Main Street in Moose Jaw at what was indicated to be a high rate of speed.
The MJPS member turned to follow the vehicle northbound on Main Street with emergency equipment activated, and at 11:48 p.m., radioed that the silver Honda had crashed on Main Street. EMS was requested to attend, and one of the vehicle's passengers, a 31-year-old man, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The other occupants of the vehicle, the driver and a second passenger, were conveyed to hospital for assessment and treatment.
The analysis portion of the SIRT report states:
“Following a full review of the evidence gathered during this investigation, it is clear that at all material times during this incident, the subject officer was on-duty and operating a fully-marked MJPS patrol vehicle. Based both on the 911 calls received by MJPS and the subject officer’s observations of the Civic, the Subject Officer was lawfully placed under The Traffic Safety Act to conduct a traffic stop on the Civic. In attempting to stop the Civic, the subject officer activated the police vehicle’s emergency equipment. Based on the evidence obtained from the surviving passenger of the Civic, the occupants of the Civic were actively attempting to evade police, but were unaware of whether police were still engaged or of the distance between their vehicle and police.
“Upon the subject officer’s realization that the vehicle was failing to stop, as it was lawfully required to do, the subject officer continued behind the Civic, at a distance, in order to warn other vehicles of the risk posed by the speeding Civic. The reasoning articulated by the subject officer is reasonable in light of the manner in which the Civic was being operated, and is responsive to the risk the Civic posed to other vehicles on the road.
“As, based on the evidence obtained, the occupants of the Civic were unaware of the continued presence or proximity of the police vehicle, the evidence does not establish that the manner in which the Civic was being operated was influenced by any action or inaction on the part of the subject officer.
"Accordingly, there is no reasonable basis to conclude that the actions of police caused or contributed to the collision that ultimately led to the death of the affected person. As there are no grounds to believe that the subject officer committed any Criminal Code offence during the course of this incident, no charges will be laid."
