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UBC Mountie cleared in crash with suspect fleeing on bike

Analysis concluded that RCMP officer did not run the suspect over
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A UBC Mountie will not face charges relating to a 2015 crash between his unmarked police SUV and a cyclist, B.C.’s prosecution service said Wednesday.

Police received a report in on an early morning in November that year of two people stealing bikes at the university’s Vancouver campus.

A RCMP officer arrived on scene and tried to stop the male suspect cycling away down the road, but failed, so he drove his unmarked SUV over the curb to try to block him from getting away.

The police officer told investigators the suspect hit the front passenger side corner of the SUV while trying to get around it.

The suspect alleged the Mountie knocked him off his bike and then ran him over.

A second Mountie who arrived on scene said the suspect was lying on the ground in handcuffs, four to five feet away from his bike and 12 feet from the SUV.

The first police officer called for an ambulance, and the suspect was taken to hospital for a fractured pelvis.

The surgeon who treated him said the suspect’s injuries were more likely the result of being hit by a car or run over, though it was possible they could have occurred from falling off a bike.

A collision reconstruction analysis found no evidence that the suspect had been run over. There was no damage on the bottom of the SUV and the bike was not damaged.

B.C.’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, had investigated and submitted a report to Crown that suggested the officer may have been in the wrong.

But the prosecution service said Wednesday there is not enough evidence to suggest the officer committed a crime.