A Thunder Bay Police Service officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the fatal collision that happened more than a month ago.
The Special Investigation Unit ruled there were no reasonable grounds to charge a Thunder Bay officer with criminal offences in connection to the death of 67-year-old Martin John Amos. The crash took place at Northern Avenue on May 20.
The SUI report, released Friday morning, states two officers saw a suspected stolen pickup truck speeding without its lights on.
The officers followed the vehicle but lost sight of the truck when it went through the intersection of Northern Avenue and May Street.
Police caught up to the truck that had stopped on a curb following a collision with a silver vehicle driven by Amos.
Amos died as a result of that crash.
An autopsy concluded that internal injuries and a fractured skull led to the man’s death.
SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon said they assigned three investigators and three forensic investigators to look into the case.
The officer declined to do an interview or provide his notes to the SIU, but did provide a prepared statement to investigators.
The SIU interviewed five officers and four civilians who witnessed the incident.
“While the officer was following the suspect vehicle, he did not initiate his emergency equipment in an attempt to apprehend the suspect’s vehicle,” Hudon said.
“It appeared that the man was trying to elude police and lost control of his vehicle.”
The police service's deputy chief Andy Hay said the two officers involved acted professionally and conducted their duties with the care of the public in mind and should be commended.
“They were able to apprehend the suspects as well as administer first aid to Amos who unfortunately passed away,” Hay said.
“Part of an SIU investigation requires the police service that’s being investigated conduct an internal review to ensure that all policies are adhered to and there’s no misconduct. We’ve conducted that review and we found our policies are still solid and affective.”
Hay added that he wished to express condolences to Amos’ family.
