SIU not charging OPP officer who rear-ended stopped SUV on Hwy. 400 and injured two people

[Michael Jack]

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is not laying charges against an Ontario Provincial Police officer who struck a stopped SUV on a highway last November that left two people seriously injured.

The collision happened in the morning of Nov. 28, 2025, on the northbound lanes of Highway 400.

According to the SIU, the driver of a GMC Terrain began to lose power while on the highway and had to stop in a left lane, approximately 50 metres north of where the westbound Highway 401 off-ramp merged.

The driver activated his emergency flashers, got out of the vehicle, and popped the hood to investigate what had happened, the SIU said.

Shortly after, the driver had closed the hood when, the SIU said, a marked OPP cruiser that had just entered the highway slammed into the back of the Terrain, propelling him backward.

The driver suffered fractures on his right leg and right hand, the SIU said. A passenger in the Terrain also sustained multiple fractures.

In the report released on Saturday, SIU Director Joseph Martino said there were no reasonable grounds to believe the OPP officer, identified as the subject official (SO), had committed a criminal offence in the collision.

“It remains unclear why the SO did not take notice of a stopped vehicle in his lane of traffic with its emergency flashers activated,” Martino wrote in his report, noting that the officer, as his legal right, refused to be interviewed or release his notes on the incident.

The director said that unlike the SO, other motorists were able to avoid the Terrain.

“It may well be that the SO was simply not paying sufficient attention to the road ahead of him as he travelled northbound in one of the two ramp lanes to Highway 400 from westbound Highway 401,” Martino said.

“On the other hand, there is nothing in the evidence to reasonably conclude that the SO’s indiscretion was anything more than a momentary lapse in attention, which the case law makes clear will only rarely amount to a marked departure from a reasonable standard of care.”

Martino added there was also no indication of any questionable driving by the SO prior to the collision. He said the in-car camera from the OPP cruiser depicted that the officer was travelling at reasonable speeds and in full control of the vehicle.

“It is also worth noting that as the SO negotiated the curve on the ramp and began to straighten out, he was no more than 100 metres or so from the stopped Terrain ahead of him. That left the officer only seconds to process what he was observing ahead of him and take the necessary evasive action,” Martino wrote.

“While not excusing the SO from his role in the collision, this is important context going to the momentary nature of the officer’s inattention.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/ ... wo-people/

https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026 ... wo-people/

[Michael Jack]

Two people suffered injuries in November incident on Highway 400, say SIU

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared an officer who crashed into a vehicle last fall on Highway 400, injuring two people.

The morning of Nov. 28, a 29-year-old man was driving his vehicle when it began to lose power. He was able to get the vehicle into the second lane from the right before it stopped on the road, several hundred metres north of Highway 401 in Toronto.

The driver activated his emergency flashers, got out of the vehicle and popped the hood to see what had happened. Just after he closed the hood, an Ontario Provincial Police cruiser slammed into the rear of the vehicle, sending the man backward on the highway. He suffered fractures in his right leg and right hand. A 25-year-old male passenger in the vehicle also suffered fractures.

“On his assessment of the evidence, SIU director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the collision,” the SIU stated in a news release.

The full report can be found here: https://siu.on.ca/en/directors_report_d ... m=referral

https://www.barrietoday.com/police-beat ... 0-12071352

https://www.orilliamatters.com/police-b ... 0-12071352

[Michael Jack]

The November 2025 crash in North York left two civilians with multiple fractures and caused significant damage to both vehicles.

Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared an OPP officer of criminal wrongdoing after his cruiser slammed into a broken down vehicle on Highway 400 in November, leaving two men with multiple injuries.

On Nov. 28, a 29-year-old man was driving on the highway when his vehicle began to lose power in North York near Finch Avenue.

The driver, who had a passenger with him, was able to pull over to the second lane from the right, several hundred meters north of Highway 401, when his vehicle stopped all together, according to a news release Saturday from the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency that probes police incidents involving death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm directed at a person, or alleged sexual assault.

After stopping on the highway, the driver then activated his emergency flashers and stepped out to pop open the front hood and investigate.

Just as he’d closed the hood, an OPP cruiser slammed into the back of his vehicle, propelling the civilian driver backward onto the highway and causing significant damage to the vehicle.

The man suffered fractures in his right leg and hand. His 25-year-old passenger also sustained multiple fractures as a result, the SIU said.

A press release at the time also indicated the officer in the cruiser suffered minor injuries.

SIU Director Joseph Martino found that after review the evidence “there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the collision.”

The crash, which occurred around 7 a.m. that morning, had shut down the northbound Highway 400 from the 401 eastbound and westbound ramps and Black Creek Drive in North York.

Three investigators were examining the crash, the SIU said, along with two forensic investigators and one collision reconstructionist.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/siu-cl ... d618d.html