Alberta’s police watchdog — the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — says an RCMP officer will not be charged in connection with a vehicle collision that resulted in injuries in 2020.
ASIRT says on March 6, 2020, it was informed that a single-vehicle collision had taken place near Leduc.
Events leading up to the collision indicated that Mounties were looking into a series of break-ins at Canada Post offices in Castor, Coronation, Veteran, and Consort.
Around 5:30 a.m., an item — which contained a GPS tracker — was stolen from one of the post offices, and Canada Post informed the RCMP.
Roughly two hours later, police found a vehicle that matched a description provided and were able to confirm the item with the tracker was inside.
Around 8 a.m., an officer attempted to stop the Nissan on Highway 855 near Highway 16, but this was unsuccessful, and the Nissan fled until it was out of view, as Mounties had been instructed not to conduct a police chase.
Just before 8:30 a.m., the officer in question approached a T intersection at the same time as the Nissan and activated his lights and sirens before briefly following the car at a distance.
ASIRT’s investigation was able to confirm through dashcam footage that the officer lost sight of the Nissan before finding it crashed on a decommissioned bridge on Range Road 184.
After arriving at the scene of the collision, officers called for medical assistance, and both the driver and a passenger were taken to hospital.
ASIRT investigators learned that the Nissan had driven over a large orange and black sign that read “BRIDGE OUT,” which was on the road leading up to the bridge.
ASIRT’s investigation found that there was no evidence that a criminal offence was committed by any officer, and that the collision was caused by the driver of the Nissan.