Ontario’s police watchdog says it has charged two officers in connection to a fatal wrong-way pursuit on Highway 401 last spring.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Friday it has charged Durham Regional Police officers Sgt. Richard Flynn and Const. Brandon Hamilton each with three counts of criminal negligence causing death, and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The update comes more than eight months after the fatal multi-vehicle crash on April 29, 2024, in Whitby, Ont.
That night, the SIU said several Durham officers were chasing a cargo van that had been identified as a vehicle of interest in an alleged liquor store robbery in nearby Clarington, Ont.
SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon told reporters at the time officers found a vehicle of interest — a U-Haul cargo van — and followed it through numerous streets in Durham Region “as the vehicle drove erratically.”
The vehicle got on Highway 401 at Stevenson Road in Oshawa in the wrong direction and was travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes.
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Shortly after, Hudon said there was a multi-vehicle collision involving at least six vehicles on Highway 401, just east of Highway 412, in Whitby, resulting in the death of a child, aged three months, their grandmother, age 55, and their grandfather, age 60.
The driver of the van, who was also killed in the crash, was identified as a 21-year-old man, while a 38-year-old male passenger suffered serious injuries.
While the SIU is required to complete its probes into police actions within 120 days, the watchdog said in August it needed more time to complete a “thorough investigation.”
The SIU said two officers involved in the pursuit did not submit to an interview or provide their duty notes, as is their legal right. Nineteen witness officials were designated in the case, the SIU added.
Both Flynn and are required to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Oshawa on Feb. 13.
