Update: 11:22 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. has concluded its investigation into an incident in Vernon.
Reported by the RCMP, at approximately 2:44 a.m. Jan. 25, an officer attempted to stop a red Cadillac sedan travelling westbound on 39th Street. It is reported that the vehicle failed to stop and shortly afterwards two officers located the vehicle near 32nd Avenue where it had collided with a tree.
“The vehicle didn’t stop and continued driving away from police,” stated Dawn Roberts with the RCMP. “It ultimately crash into a tree near a creek bank around 32 Avenue.”
A man in the vehicle sustained head injuries and was transported to hospital.
When officers arrived at the crash scene they discovered two individuals inside the vehicle.
Both individuals complied with police commands to exit the vehicle, were subsequently arrested and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. They have since both been released from hospital and remain in custody pending charges.
In order for the IIO to sustain jurisdiction, the injuries must meet the definition of serious harm as defined in the Police Act.
In this case, the injuries sustained by the man do not meet the definition of serious harm. The Chief Civilian Director has reviewed the information obtained during the IIO preliminary investigation and has determined all jurisdiction will be released to the RCMP.
.@iiobc IIO Release Jurisdiction of Incident in Vernon (2019-018) https://t.co/zspwKuckJn
— IIOBC (@iiobc) January 28, 2019
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UPDATED: 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26
The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) have once again been called to the Okanagan, this time for a serious collision in Vernon.
According to Dawn Roberts with the RCMP, police received information about a suspicious red Cadillac sedan about 2:45 a.m. Friday morning (Jan. 25).
About an hour later a Vernon North Okanagan RCMP officer located a vehicle matching the description near 39th and 27th Avenue and attempted to stop it. It is reported that the vehicle failed to stop and shortly afterwards two officers located the vehicle near 32nd Avenue where it had collided with a tree.
A male passenger in the vehicle sustained head injuries and was transported to hospital.
“The vehicle didn’t stop and continued driving away from police,” stated Roberts in a release. “It ultimately crash into a tree near a creek bank around 32 Avenue.”
When officers arrived at the crash scene they discovered two individuals inside the vehicle.
Both individuals complied with police commands to exit the vehicle, were subsequently arrested and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. They have since both been released from hospital and remain in custody pending charges.
The IIO have been notified and will determine if there is any link between police actions and the motor vehicle collision. The IIO is asking anyone who saw, heard or may have dash cam footage of the incident to contact the IIO witness line at 1-855-446-8477.
The IIO is also investigating an officer involved shooting in Kelowna.
@Jen_zeejen.zielinski@bpdigital.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
