The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared a Toronto police officer of criminal wrongdoing in a vehicle pursuit in September that left a 17-year-old boy dead.
Police were conducting traffic checks in the east end just after midnight on Sept. 18 when they spotted a car that had a licence plate that didn't belong on it.
Officers tried to pull the teenaged driver over on Victoria Park, near Eglinton Avenue, but he refused to stop and sped away.
Moments later, the teen crossed into the oncoming lanes and slammed into another car on Victoria Park near St. Clair Avenue.
Vehicle parts were strewn across the street, and the suspected stolen car ended up on the front lawn of a house.
The 17-year-old driver, Shilton Lutchman, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the second vehicle, a 33-year-old man, was taken to hospital with a broken wrist.
SIU director James Cornish concluded Lutchman crashed within seconds of the officer putting on his cruiser's emergency lights.
At the time of the incident, Lutchman's father told CTV Toronto that the car was legally purchased, but he didn't know where his son got the licence plates that ended up on the vehicle.
The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates incidents involving police that have resulted in serious injury, sexual assault or death.
With files from The Canadian Press
