IIU clears officers for actions before high-speed crash that killed woman, infant son

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This article was published 30/12/2021 (1716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s police watchdog has cleared police of any wrongdoing after a misread licence plate triggered a high-speed collision that killed a Winnipeg mother and her infant son.

Thirty-year-old Jennifer Dethmers died Sept. 26, 2020, after the Dodge Caravan she was traveling in was struck by a pickup truck fleeing from police. Her nine-month-old son Anthony was seriously injured and died a month later in hospital.

The driver of the truck, 43-year-old Armand Chartrand, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and was sentenced earlier this month to eight years in prison.

According to a report released Wednesday by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, officers in an unmarked police cruiser misread the licence plate on Chartrand’s pickup truck and, believing it was unregistered, activated their emergency lights and siren in an effort to pull him over.

According to police, Chartrand at first appeared to be looking for a place to pull over before he sped away, blew through three stops signs and collided with Dethmers’ van at the intersection of Boyd Avenue and Andrews Street.

A police collision-reconstruction expert estimated Chartrand was driving 112 km/h at the time of the collision, more than twice the posted speed limit.

Officers told investigators they abandoned efforts to stop Chartrand’s vehicle and deactivated their siren and lights after seeing him speed through the first two stop signs. According to GPS data, police drove no faster than 62.8 km/h prior to the collision.

According to the report, Chartrand told investigators he fled because his passenger was afraid of being found in breach of a court order if they were pulled over.

“The manner of driving of the police vehicle, the speed of travel and the increasing distance between it and the pickup truck prior to collision are factors that support the contention that no pursuit was underway,” investigation unit civilian director Zane Tessler wrote in the report.

“The decision to evade police by accelerating and driving at significantly high rates of speed was the sole decision of the driver of the pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck is solely responsible for deaths and injuries that resulted.”

At the time of the crash, Chartrand had been legally prohibited from driving for more than 25 years.

At a sentencing hearing last fall, court heard it was Chartrand who feared being arrested if he was pulled over, not his passenger.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca