An off-duty York police officer has been charged with impaired driving after a single-vehicle collision in Whitchurch-Stouffville on Friday.
York Regional Police said that officers were called to the area of Ninth Line and Ceadervale Boulevard around 5:30 a.m. after a bystander reported that a vehicle had veered off the road and struck a guardrail.
No one was injured in the crash.
The driver of the vehicle, who has been identified as 38-year-old Const. Paul Thompson from Newmarket, has since been charged in connection with the incident.
In a news release issued on Friday, investigators said that Thompson has been a member of the York Regional Police Services since 2006. He has been placed on administrative duties, police said.
“York Regional Police is committed to transparency and is accountable to our community,” said Chief Eric Jolliffe in a statement. “When we charge a member with a criminal offence, that information is released to our community as part of that commitment.”
York police has been releasing the names of all drivers charged with criminal driving offenses related to impairment, but earlier this week the force temporarily suspended the initiative in order to review the process and determine if the policy has resulted in reduced incidents of impaired driving.
“We thank our citizens for their commitment to community safety who have called in under our Safe Roads: Your Call program, which encourages citizens to call 9-1-1 if they suspect an impaired driver,” the news release said. “We consider these incidents a life-threatening crime in progress and will resond to these calls, as we did to this incident.”
