The province’s police oversight agency has ended an investigation into the death of a 19-year-old man who drove his vehicle into a Kingsville waterway.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said on February 28, the Ontario Provincial Police were notified about a man in mental distress.
Police were able to locate the man’s vehicle on Cedar Island Drive in Kingsville. However, when an officer began to approach the vehicle, it accelerated and drove off the roadway into the water.
The vehicle was completely submerged. An OPP dive team was contacted but was unable to save the man.
The SIU has concluded that there was little the officer could do to prevent the man from entering the water and a rescue attempt would have been dangerous given the conditions. As such, the investigation has been concluded.
The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency in Ontario that investigates any incident involving police that has resulted in death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm, or allegations of sexual assault.