No charges pending as OPP officers had ‘no choice’ but to pursue driver
Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Ontario’s independent police watchdog has cleared Napanee OPP officers of any wrongdoing in a high-speed chase last March that led to the death of an 88-year-old woman.
This morning, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) released a Jan. 28 report by director Tony Loparco indicating no criminal charges to were forthcoming as a result of the chase and crash that took Florence Wyatt Morris’ life and left Belleville man Andrew Slapkauskas, 42, to face a first-degree murder protection.
The SIU was informed of the incident at about 4:55 p.m. on March 6, 2018. Six investigators, three forensic investigators, and a collision reconstructionist were assigned to the investigation. The SIU interviewed 19 civilian witnesses and 11 police witnesses, reviewed 911 and police transmissions, surveillance video, and the raw data from the involved vehicles at the time of the crash in coming to their findings.
“Having reviewed all of the extensive evidence from the many civilian and police witnesses who observed (Slapkauskas)’ driving on the afternoon of March 6, 2018, there is no question that (he) posed a real and imminent danger to the lives and/or safety of anyone who came within range of that vehicle that he was driving,” Loparco wrote. “Unlike many other police pursuit investigations, this is not a matter of a police officer deciding whether to stop a motor vehicle in order to investigate the driver for a Highway Traffic Act offence or to execute a Criminal Cord warrant, or to allow him to flee and be arrested on another day. Instead it is clear that (he), before police ever came to either look for him, or to follow him, according to the many witnesses who came forward, and the recorded 911 call, posed a real and imminent threat to other motorists he encountered on the roadway that afternoon, and that police had no choice but to make every effort to stop him before he killed someone.”
Loparco noted it was clear police discussed and resorted to a number of strategic options to try to stop Slapkauskas but were unsuccessful due to his evasive driving actions and it was evident they could not stand idly by. He said witnesses’ evidence suggested “its as not a question of if, but when” he would seriously injure or kill someone.
The investigation centred on the two officers leading the pursuit at the time of the collision. Loparco indicated the standard being investigated was whether the officers followed the Ontario Police Act provisions around suspect chases and Criminal Code sections surrounding negligence and dangerous driving causing death.
This overhead mapping shows the route police pursued Andrew Slapkauskas on during a high-speed chase last March. The Special Investigations Unit cleared the involved OPP officers of any criminal or professional wrongdoing. (SIU image)
The SIU director ruled the pursuit was in compliance with regulation as officers constantly were in contact with their communications centre with updates as to location and speed, they attempted alternative measures to stop the driver, and were weighing the risk of alternatives. Witnesses also observed the lead vehicles stopping or coming to a complete stop at red lights, left a gap behind the vehicle they followed, and travelled at a lesser speed.
The question turned to whether the police officers involved committed a criminal offence as their driving rose to the level of becoming dangerous. While evidence showed eight police vehicles were driven in excess of 100 km per hour in zones designated at 40-50 km per hour, Loparco didn’t find a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe in the circumstances, a test rooted in Supreme Court case law.
He reported the investigators’ evidence established “the dangerous nature of (Slapkauskas)’ driving preceded any involvement by police and that their pursuit of the vehicle which he was driving did not appear to exacerbate his driving” and added he was unable to find a causal connection between the actions of police and the collision that took place near the intersection of County Rd. 2 and Old Hamburg Road.
Loparco said he accepted independent civilian witness testimony that the OPP officers were “proceeding prudently and with relative caution” and said “he found no evidence any police officers created a danger to other users of the roadway or that they interfered with other traffic at any time.”
After noting Slapkauskas declined to be interviewed, Loparco said he could not definitively address whether he was intentionally driving head-on into oncoming traffic as witnesses suggested, but felt he posed a threat to life.
“While I am unable, in the absence of some input from (Slapkauskas), to determine whether or not he intended to cause a loss of life by his manner of driving, it is clear that he had an utter disregard for the lives and safety of those with whom he came into contact and, if it was not his intent to deliberately kill someone, he was clearly reckless as to whether or not he caused a death, either with or without the involvement of police.”
The director also indicated he had no hesitation in finding that if police hadn’t intervened “there is still a very strong likelihood that he would have killed at least one person, if not many more.”
The report established a timeline that started with a 911 call around 3:30 p.m. reporting Slapkauskas’ grey Ford Escape SUV passed a lineup of cars stopped on Hwy 2 in Shannonville at about 200 km per hour. That prompted radio communications with OPP officers and set the stage for a 5.3-km high speed chase starting around County Rd. 1 and Jim Kimmett Boulevard, ran through downtown Napanee and took three minutes and six seconds to unfold.
About 10 minutes after the call, an officer in an unmarked police car — one of two officers who would be subject of the investigation — reported the silver Ford Escape was travelling erratically eastbound on County Rd. 1 and heading into Napanee. When the officer attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver took off at a high rate of speed, attempting to drive head-on into oncoming vehicles.
Another officer in a marked cruiser was moving westbound with lights activated. That officer reported the driver attempted to drive head-on into the cruiser and “had both of his arms outstretched and was not holding onto the steering wheel.”
Both officers engaged in a pursuit with another officer joining in shortly thereafter. The car continued through the 40-km zone near NDSS at speeds up to 149 km/h. Police attempted several maneuvers to stop the car, but were unsuccessful and they reported the driver continued to drive at extremely high speeds.
Another officer in a fully marked vehicle — the other officer subjected to the investigation— joined the chase at this time and became the lead vehicle pursuing the Escape.
The subject vehicle continued at high rates of speed via Bridge Street to Dundas Street, driving head-on at oncoming traffic. At one point the lead car was four seconds behind. Police radio communications indicated the driver turned head-on into the front end of an eastbound Sebring, operated by Wyatt-Morris. Data retrieved from the Escape showed that its as travelling at 138 km/h at the time of the fatal impact. Slapkauskas was removed from the vehicle at gun point and after a struggle with arresting police officers, he was transported to hospital. Loparco’s report said he was “tentatively diagnosed with a badly fractured left arm and multiple injuries” and “was kept in a medically induced coma for several days.”
Crash data retrieval from the Escape showed the driver accelerated in speed up to the time of impact “as evident from the 100-per-cent throttle application and the maximum value of revolutions per minute.” The service brake was not applied until the time of impact either. Steering wheel angle data showed that in the five seconds prior to the crash, the driver was constantly changing the steering wheel and moments prior to impact, turned to the left, “causing the vehicle to most probably travel left of centre into the oncoming lane of vehicular traffic.”
Investigators also consulted Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) information from nine police vehicles involved in the chase to determine their speeds.
The SIU is a civilian agency, called in to cases involving the police that lead to serious injury, death, or allegations of sexual assault.