An RCMP officer is being taken to court over an allegation he struck a 10-year-old boy while driving through the Lake Babine Nation reserve near Burns Lake last year.
According to a civil notice of claim filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George, Aaron Vaaghn Semmler was heading south along Sus Avenue in an RCMP SUV on July 28, 2015 when he struck the boy who was riding his bike east on Tsa Street.
Semmler was on duty and had been "moving near or over a speed bump marked with the correct warning signs" when the collision allegedly occurred at the intersection of the two roads.
The boy, whose name is included in the notice, suffered an injury to the occipital bone on the back of his head, cuts and abrasions on his scalp and pain in his lower back and pelvic posterior. He will continue to suffer pain and loss of enjoyment of life and has incurred special damages, according to the notice.
The notice says Semmler was negligent and was driving at an excessive speed and had turned left without making sure he could do so safely. Semmler has not been charged under the Motor Vehicle Act or the Criminal Code, court records indicate.
Negligence in civil cases is decided on a balance of probabilities while whether a person is guilty of a criminal charge is based on the higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
A litigant guardian with the same last name as the boy's has filed the suit on his behalf.
The B.C. Justice Minister - Suzanne Anton - is also named as a defendant because she is responsible for policing in the province, according to the notice.
The defendants have not yet filed responses to the claim and the allegations have not yet been tested in court.
