The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the death of a 38-year-old man in August in Oro Station.
In the early morning of August 12, 2023, Ontario Provincial Police officers were notified of a man lying in the northbound lanes of Highway 11. An officer located the man on the highway in the area of Line 7. The officer roused the man and escorted him off the roadway. Shortly thereafter, the man broke free from the officer and moved into the live lanes of traffic. The officer broadcast what had happened and officers were dispatched to locate the man. A couple of hours later, the man was walking northwards in the curb lane of the southbound Highway 11 lanes when he was struck by a southbound pick-up truck. He would later succumb to his injuries in hospital.
Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, including a review of video footage that captured the incident in parts, Director Martino was satisfied the investigation should be discontinued. On this record, it was apparent that the police did not cause the man’s fatal injuries, nor did they contribute to his death by any act or omission that transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law. The file has been closed.
