Truck ran red light before crash: IIU

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This article was published 06/05/2025 (325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A video confirmed a stolen pickup truck ran a red light when it collided with a police vehicle last year, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba says.

Two men were seriously hurt after they jumped into the bed of the 2023 Ford F150 as it was being stolen on the 800 block of Dudley Avenue on the night of Sept. 14.

The truck belonged to one of the men, who called 911 and provided real-time directions while the stolen vehicle drove around. He told a 911 operator to advise officers not to hit the truck.

He later told the IIU he had tried opening the locked driver’s door before jumping into the rear of the truck.

The vehicle went over a tire-deflation device an officer had put down in a back lane near the intersection of Brandon Avenue and Osborne Street but kept moving.

The truck then went through a red light at 46 km/h and collided with an unmarked canine-unit vehicle that was travelling at 81 km/h. Video confirmed the police vehicle had a green light and had its emergency lights on, the IIU report said.

The two men were ejected from the truck’s bed and landed about 20 metres away, the Winnipeg Police Service told the IIU.

The vehicle’s owner suffered a fractured skull, two broken ribs and a fractured left collarbone. The other man suffered compression fractures of five vertebrae and a rib fracture. He told the province’s police watchdog that he did not know at the time who had stolen the truck but later found out that it was a relative.

Two people were arrested near the crash site and treated for non-serious injuries, the WPS said in September. The male driver, who was 17 at the time, was charged with several offences, police said. A girl, who was 15 at the time, was charged with theft over $5,000.

It’s not clear what happened with the charges, but the IIU does not release full reports on incidents when an accused remains before the courts.

One of the teens charged confirmed the driver tried to go through a red light, the IIU said.

The WPS said in September that the canine unit officer was also hurt and taken to hospital.

The IIU said it did not recommend charges against the officer, who stated in notes handed over to investigators that the truck came out of nowhere and that he had no time to react.

In another report released Tuesday, the IIU said no officers will be charged in connection with an injured woman who was arrested twice in three days this summer.

The IIU said officers came across the woman, who appeared to be intoxicated while lying on the ground screaming, near Des Meurons and Goulet streets on the night of Aug. 3.

Officers noted she had “numerous visible facial injuries.” The woman allegedly assaulted Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members while they were examining her.

Police took her to Main Street Project, where she allegedly assaulted officers. The woman later tried to bite an officer at police headquarters, the WPS told the IIU.

She was released from police custody, but officers arrested her again at a home on the first 100 block of Morrow Avenue on the night of Aug. 5. The woman, who allegedly got into a fight with the homeowner, was later found to have “numerous facial fractures” and a pre-existing spine injury.

A final report on the investigation won’t be released until charges against the woman have been dealt with in court, the IIU said in a news release Tuesday.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca