Officers cleared in crash

Photo: CTV

No charges will be laid against the three RCMP officers involved in a high-speed chase that ended with a civilian being struck and severely injured in Kelowna last December.

The Crown decided that although the officers should have terminated, or not even begun the chase in the first place, nothing they did was necessarily dangerous within the meaning of the Criminal Code.

In reviewing each officer’s role in the pursuit and subsequent crash, the Crown concluded there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction for any driving related offence and no charges were approved for any of the officers.

According to the available evidence, the officers made specifically measured decisions about their driving, in an effort to apprehend the driver of the pursued vehicle. They did not display an absence of thought or failure to pay appropriate or sufficient attention to their driving in all of the circumstances. The evidence furthermore does not establish any momentary inattention or carelessness, according to a report released this week from the Criminal Justice branch.

The speeding car that struck Steve Kania was allegedly driven by Donald Brodie, who is currently charged with a number of driving infractions, he sent a letter of admission to Castanet.

According to officers, the chase began December 7 on Springfield Road. A police road check had been set up the previous evening when a black Eagle Talon approached it around 12:30 a.m.

It sped past the officers and two police cars quickly began their pursuit. They were able to catch up with the suspect vehicle and all three took part in side-by-side collisions, but it was not clear who initiated contact based on the available evidence.

One of the officers broadcast over the radio that he was calling the pursuit off, and a supervising officer at the detachment office also broadcast that the pursuing cars should “stand down”. However, due to radio problems, that message was not heard by all officers and additional vehicles joined the chase.

Another officer attempted to block the road ahead of the fleeing car, and as it approached the intersection, it swerved off the road and missed the police vehicle, but struck Steve Kania in the process.

The car also hit a fire hydrant before it came to a stop, with the entire pursuit lasting around seven minutes.

Kania was seriously injured in the collision and had to be put into a coma and airlifted to hospital in Vancouver.

Brodie will be making his next court appearance later this month. He is charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm, flight causing bodily harm, and criminal negligence causing bodily harm and willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

Another man, Nathan Fahl, was initially charged with being the driver of the car that struck Kania, but those charges have since been dropped by the Crown.