Crown attorneys wrapped up their first witness examinations Tuesday in the trial of a York Regional Police officer accused of fatally striking a pedestrian in 2014 while on duty.
On the evening of Feb. 12, 2014, Natasha Abogado had just got off a TTC bus at the intersection of St. Clair Avenue East and Warden Road in Scarborough when she was struck by an unmarked vehicle travelling east.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit -- an arm’s length agency that investigates incidents involving police where there has been serious injury or death -- invoked its mandate and investigated the circumstances leading up to the incident.
The SIU concluded that the unmarked vehicle was being driven by a York Regional Police officer. Investigators concluded the officer was driving at a speed of 115 km/h in a 60km/h zone without using police lights or sirens when Abogado was struck.
In June of that year, the SIU charged the officer driving the vehicle with one count of dangerous driving causing death.
Det. Const. Remo Romano pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In court on Tuesday, a detective with the YRP testified that Romano was following a suspect vehicle when he struck Abogado but that they had no plans to arrest the person they were following nor did they believe the driver posed any real threat to public safety.
“We are out there doing our job. And our job is to stay with the target vehicle. We try to do our job the best we can… but sometimes it is dangerous,” Det. Bill Newton of YRP said on Tuesday.
Romano has been an officer with York Region since 2003 and a member of the #5 District Criminal Investigations Bureau since 2010. He was placed on administrative duties throughout court proceedings.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
