Chief Civilian Director Releases Jurisdiction in Vernon

INFORMATION BULLETIN
Independent Investigations Office
For Immediate Release

SURREY – The Chief Civilian Director has released jurisdiction over an officer involved incident out of Vernon. After his review of the preliminary investigation, the CCD has determined there was no relationship (or nexus) between the injury to the affected person and the actions of the officer.

On June 28, 2014, at approximately 9:20 p.m., an officer from the Vernon RCMP responded to a complaint of a suspicious person near 29th Street in Vernon. The officer located the affected person riding a bike in an “S” pattern along the street. The officer activated his emergency lights, briefly sounded the siren and yelled at the affected person to pull over. The affected person ignored the commands to stop. He crossed through a residential yard, over a fence and into a parking lot near 32nd Street.

The officer parked his vehicle on 15th Avenue and continued following the affected person on foot to the parking lot. The officer was not able to locate the affected person. He gave up the search and was returning to his vehicle when he was flagged down and told about a motor vehicle crash that had occurred at the intersection of 16th Avenue and 32nd Street.

The crash reportedly took place at 9:31 p.m. and involved the affected person and an unrelated vehicle. The affected person sustained a serious injury to his wrist.

Initial information reported to the IIO suggested the injury to the affected person was directly related to the actions of the officer. IIO investigators interviewed civilian witnesses, the affected person and two officers – the subject officer who was in contact with the affected person and a witness officer. The information confirms a significant time delay between the time the officer commanded the affected person to stop and the MVI. Further, the affected person stated he was unaware that he was being pursued by police and that his first recall of police presence was when an officer held and supported his neck after the collision.

In order for the IIO to sustain jurisdiction, the Chief Civilian Director must be satisfied that a person died or was seriously injured AND that there was a relationship (or nexus) to an officer’s actions. In this case, that test was not met and as such, the CCD has released jurisdiction and has no further interest.

Contact:

Ralph.Krenz@iiobc.ca