‘Ottawa’ SIU Investigates Teen’s Death in Crash Near Smiths Falls, Ont.
An 18-year-old man has died in a single-vehicle crash near Smiths Falls, Ont., and Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating.
The crash happened at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Kitley Line 2 Road and County Road 17, the Special Investigations Unit said on Friday morning.
An OPP officer was driving south on County Road 17 “when he observed a vehicle travelling northbound at a high rate of speed,” the SIU said.
The OPP officer turned around and pursued the suspect vehicle, which moments later turned left onto Kitley Line 2 Road and veered off the road, crashing into trees.
“We saw this grey car go by so quickly that you couldn’t even tell what kind of car it was,” said Bev Gault, who lives two doors down from the crash site in the small community of Jasper.
“All of a sudden we heard dogs barking, a crash type of thing and I turned to my husband and said ‘there’s an accident.'”
The driver was ejected from the vehicle by the force of the crash, the SIU said. He was taken to the Perth & Smiths Falls District Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The teen’s identity has not been released.
A 16-year-old girl inside the vehicle was not injured.
Four SIU investigators, two forensic investigators and two collision reconstructionists have been assigned to the case. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-787-8529.
The SIU investigates cases of death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault involving police in Ontario.
Neighbours including Gault said they saw a definite separation between the suspect going by and police following more slowly.
“They had their lights on but they weren’t going fast,” she said. “I wouldn’t call it a high-speed chase.”