The province’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared Chatham-Kent police in the death of a man who was hit by a train as he ran from an officer.
SIU director Ian Scott announced Tuesday that the agency has found no reasonable grounds to charge the officer with any offence.
“While the man’s death is a tragic event, no criminal liability may attach to the actions of the subject officer,” Scott said in a release.
“The man ran in front of a moving passenger train in an attempt to escape police custody and could not avoid being struck by the train.”
According to Scott, the man “either tripped or slipped on the rail-bed stones” before he was hit by the train — which was travelling at about 75 km/h.
The man died instantly.
The incident began around 3:30 p.m. on May 17 in Chatham. The officer was called to the area of Park Avenue West and Bakers Drive after a report that two people were stealing things from cars.
The officer arrived to find a fellow officer already on the scene, questioning a male and a female about the contents of their bags. The arriving officer recognized the pair from previous encounters.
The officers decided to arrest both parties on charges of theft and possession of stolen property.
At that point, the 30-year-old man made a break for it and ran north across Park.
Both officers gave chase and yelled for him to stop, but the man continued his escape — heading toward train tracks that run parallel to Park, about 130 metres from the street.
The tracks have an embankment. The man began running up the slope. An officer managed to catch up to him and grab one of his pant legs.
The man kicked free and the officer slipped. The man continued to run.
At the same time, a Via Rail train was heading west, barrelling down the tracks.
The train operator noticed the approaching man and sounded the train’s whistle and emergency horn.
Despite the warnings, the man ran onto the tracks and was killed.
“In my view, the subject officer had the lawful authority to pursue the man,” Scott said in the release.
SIU assigned four investigators and two forensic specialists to the case.
Four police officers were interviewed, as well as six civilian witnesses.
The subject officer agreed to be interviewed by SIU and provided investigators with a copy of his notes.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is an arms-length civilian agency that examines incidents involving police where there’s been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
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