The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has determined that a Toronto police officer committed a criminal offense following the pursuit of a sport utility vehicle's 40-year-old driver
The SIU's director Ian Scott released his findings on Tuesday, Oct. 20. That determination has lead to the laying of a criminal charge against Const. Allan Racette, who is facing one charge of assault contrary to Section 266 of the Criminal Code of Canada. He has a Nov. 10 court date.The incident happened on Wednesday, Aug. 5 just after 6 a.m. near Avenue and Davenport roads.The driver, now identified as David Graham, reportedly refused to pull over then lost control of his vehicle and struck a utility pole a short time later.Graham was then arrested and transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital for treatment of an injury.Const. Racette, who attempted to pull over the SUV because he believed it was stolen, also received minor injuries as police investigated the incident.The Special Investigations Unit, the civilian agency that investigates cases of serious injury (including allegations of sexual assault) or death involving police, is not making any further comments on this investigation as the matter is now before the courts.-Joanna Lavoie