WPS officer hit with dangerous driving charges

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This article was published 04/05/2020 (1984 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg Police Service officer is facing multiple criminal charges after allegedly causing a motor vehicle collision last year that landed six people in the hospital.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, the province’s police watchdog, announced Monday it had charged WPS Const. John Misiewicz-Buzahora with three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The investigation was first announced by the IIU on July 15, 2019, shortly after it was launched.

A police cruiser struck a van at the intersection of Aberdeen Avenue and Salter Street at 7:20 p.m. on July 14, sending six people to the hospital, a WPS spokesman said at the time.

Surveillance footage posted online by the CBC showed the vehicle, which did not appear to have its emergency lights active, driving through a stop sign without slowing down and striking the passenger side of a black minivan. The van tipped on its side and slid across the street.

Six people were taken to hospital, including two police officers inside the WPS cruiser car and the four occupants of the minivan. All were subsequently released.

“The IIU has conducted a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances of this incident. IIU civilian director Zane Tessler is satisfied there are reasonable grounds to believe a criminal offence occurred, and accordingly has authorized three charges of drive dangerous cause bodily harm,” the IIU said in a news release Monday.

Misiewicz-Buzahora met with an IIU investigator on April 28, and was issued a summons to appear in provincial court in Winnipeg on July 6.

The IIU said it will make no further comment on the case while the matter is before the courts.

A request for comment was sent to the WPS on Monday, but was not responded to prior to deadline. It remains unclear if Misiewicz-Buzahora remains on active duty with the city police.