SUDBURY -- Ontario's police watchdog has ruled that North Bay officers are not at fault for the drowning death of a man after he fled from the scene of a crash into Lake Nipissing last fall.
After eight months, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has closed the case on North Bay police's involvement in the death of a 26-year-old man.
On October 1, 2019, officers responded to a single-vehicle crash at 5:49 p.m. after receiving a complaint of erratic driving in an area prohibited to traffic along railroad tracks. The driver of the 2019 Jeep hit a tree and then fled to the lake that was about 150 metres from the scene.
An SIU report has found that all of the first responders "went above and beyond what was required in the line of duty to save the complainant's life."
The report states that several officers and firefighters swam out to where the man was seen disappearing below the water, between 150 to 200 metres from the shore, after trying to coax him verbally out of the lake. They were treated for hypothermia after the OPP marine unit arrived.
Search and recovery crews found the man's body the next day.
None of the officers will face charges in connection to the tragic incident.
The initial SIU report indicated there was a second occupant that fled the vehicle following the crash, but the director's report did not mention a second person.
"My understanding is that it was initially thought there were two individuals. There was just the one man," said Monica Huron, SIU communication coordinator.
There also appears to be a discrepancy in the age of the drowning victim, who was previously reported as being 20-years-old. CTV News has asked the agency for clarification and is awaiting a response.
Read the full SIU report here.
