News Release
SIU Investigates Fatal Collision Involving the Ontario Provincial Police in Thunder Bay
Case Number: 08-PVD-256
Other News Releases Related to Case 08-PVD-256
SIU Renews Appeal for Witnesses to Fatal Collision Involving An Ontario Provincial Police Officer in Thunder Bay
Ontario Provincial Police Officer Charged
On Wednesday December 3, 2008, at approximately 9:50 a.m., a collision occurred on Highway 11/17 at the Twin City Crossroads between two vehicles, one of them an unmarked OPP cruiser. The driver of the civilian vehicle, 18-year-old Jasmine Veneruzzo of Oliver Paipoonge, a rural community west of Thunder Bay, was killed; the officer remains in the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre with non-life threatening injuries. The sergeant from the local OPP detachment was on-duty and on routine patrol at the time of the collision.
The Thunder Bay Police Service is assisting the SIU in preserving the scene for examination by the Unit's forensic investigators. Local police are also rerouting traffic around the collision scene.
The SIU is appealing for anyone, who either witnessed this incident or may have any information about it, to contact the Unit at 1-800-787-8529.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (municipal, regional and provincial police officers, police officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations