SIU charges London cop after investigation

The director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Tony Loparco, has reasonable grounds to believe that a London Police Service (LPS) officer committed a criminal offence in relation to a collision that occurred in October 2013. Director Loparco has caused a charge to be laid against the officer.

The SIU investigation determined that on Sunday, October 6, 2013, at approximately 11 a.m., an officer with the LPS was traveling southbound on Adelaide Street. At the intersection of Adelaide Street and Oxford Street, there was a collision between the officer’s cruiser and a civilian vehicle traveling eastbound on Oxford Street, causing the civilian vehicle to strike two pedestrians. The officer was responding to a robbery in progress. Two pedestrians were injured and taken to Victoria Hospital where one was released with minor injuries and a 23-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with her injuries.

As a result of the SIU investigation, LPS constable Leah Constance Laari is facing one charge of dangerous driving.