No charges will be pursued against a Prince George RCMP officer involved in a collision with an all-terrain vehiclein August that led to serious injuries for its passenger, the B.C. criminal justice branch said this week.
The decision comes after receiving a report from the Independent Investigations Officer, the civilian-led watchdog that investigates deaths and serious injuries involving police, outlining the evidence it had gathered, largely in statements from the officer and passenger.
The collision occurred Aug. 11, 2013 at about 3 a.m. near the intersection of Highway 97 and Northwood Pulp Mill Road. The side-by-side ATV went off the road and down an embankment, leaving the driver with minor injuries but the passenger with serious ones.
"There is conflicting evidence as to how the collision occurred," said the decision issued Wednesday. It went on to describe differing stories provided by the officer and the passenger. The driver declined to provide a statement.
The names of those involved were not included in the report but in the days following the incident, the passenger was identified as Jason Parlby.
The officer said he was driving south on Highway 97 when he saw headlights coming out of the weigh scales in the wrong direction and then the ATV cut directly in front of his vehicle. He activated his emergency lights and turned around but the ATV did not pull over and, instead, headed east on Northwood.
Using his loudspeaker, the officer ordered the ATV driver to pull over but to no effect.
He turned off his emergency lights and did not chase the ATV but continued to follow it and, when he saw oncoming headlights, worried there would be a collision because the ATV was swerving all over the road.
The officer decided to pass the ATV to go further along Northwood Pulp Mill Road and block off traffic coming in the other direction.
When the ATV pulled back into the right lane, the officer sped up and tried to pass on the left, driving "close to fog line, to give the ATV as much room as possible," according to a summary of the officer's account in the decision.
He said the ATV driver saw him and deliberately rammed his vehicle, then fishtailed and went off the road's right side and down the embankment.
In contrast, Parlby blamed the police officer but also admitted there are blanks in his memory of the incident.
He said he and the driver went out on the ATV at about 11 p.m. after dinner and socializing with a friend where Parlby had three or four beers and was not sure how much the driver had to drink.
While on the road, the ATV was overheating and they had to stop a number of times.
They were going along a trail behind the weigh scales when the driver decided to cross the highway to get to a restaurant. As they did so, a police vehicle's lights came on and it made a U-turn.
He remembered the police officer following the ATV and claimed the officer tried to pull between them and the ditch along the road. He heard the officer say something on his loudspeaker but could not understand what was being said because the ATV was quite loud.
The officer then pulled back behind them and they continued along Northwood. Parlby said the officer then shut off all his lights, including the headlights, and he could not be seen.
"He asked the ATV driver several times what he was doing but the driver did not respond, and may not have heard him because the ATV was loud," according to a summary of the Parlby's evidence in the decision.
They continued on and looked back. When they looked forward once again, they swerved across the road and suddenly the police vehicle's lights came back on and was behind them to the left, Parlby said.
"At this point they were in the wrong lane and the ATV driver started turning away to go back into the proper lane," the decision said. "According to the passenger, the police car swerved toward them and hit them just about at the yellow line."
A collision analyst was unable to determine the vehicles' speeds but found the the areas of impact were consistent with the collision occurring in the left lane. Moreover, an inspection confirmed that it is impossible for the headlights to be turned off on the police vehicle unless it comes to a full stop.
Crown counsel concluded there was no reason to accept the evidence of the passenger over that of the officer involved, particularly since the passenger could not remember some of the events and had been drinking.
"On the basis of the available evidence, Crown counsel concluded it is not possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the police officer's driving was demonstrably dangerous, or that it demonstrated inattention, carelessness and/or a lack of due regard for safety," the CJB said.
"There is no substantial likelihood of conviction for either Criminal Code or Motor Vehicle Act offences."
Parlby, suffered serious injuries that included a a hairline fracture to a vertebrae in his neck and a crushed vertebrae midway up his back.
In late August, Parlby's mother, Teresa Balatti, said he was using a motorized wheelchair and had a 50-50 chance of walking again.
Charges against the driver have not been pursued.
