Ontario's police watchdog says there are no grounds to lay criminal charges against two Halton regional police officers who stopped an alleged drunk driver before a fatal crash in Milton two years ago.
However, the Special Investigations Unit says part of the officers' investigation "left much to be desired" and could give rise to misconduct charges.
The SIU's director, Joseph Martino, says he has referred the matter — as well as the delay in reporting the incident to the watchdog agency — to the police chief for review and to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.
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Halton regional police say their thoughts remain with the families and loved ones of the three people who died in the crash, and the force is waiting for direction from LECA regarding the investigation into the possible misconduct identified in the report.
The SIU report says one officer spoke to the driver, an 18-year-old man, in a McDonald's parking lot around 1:30 a.m. on March 30, 2024, after responding to a call about a drunk driver.
She didn't see any signs of impairment and let him go about 20 minutes later without conducting an examination or making him do a breathalyzer test, the report says.
Around 2:20 a.m., the other officer spotted the car weaving in and out of lanes and stopped the driver, the document says.
He talked to the driver, who had difficulty identifying and providing proof of ownership, then called the first officer to ask if she had seen any signs of impairment during the initial encounter, the report says.
Shortly afterward, the first officer arrived at the scene and spoke to her colleague, it says.
At some point, the second officer spoke to the passenger, a 16-year-old girl, who said the driver had been driving that way to scare her as a joke, it says.
The second officer told the driver he could either park his car at a nearby plaza or get a ticket for careless driving and be on his way, the document says. The driver chose the ticket, and was allowed to drive away around 2:50 a.m. without undergoing an examination or breathalyzer test, it says.
About 30 minutes later, calls to 911 reported a two-vehicle crash at Derry Road and Sixth Line, with both vehicles on fire. The car that had previously been stopped by the officers had rammed into the back of a car stopped at a red light, killing all three people involved, the report says.
The investigation showed the car was travelling at a speed of between 140 and 154 kilometres per hour before hitting the other vehicle, it says.
A blood sample was taken from the driver, and test results later showed a blood-alcohol level of 225 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, it says. The legal limit under the Criminal Code is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Halton police alerted the SIU about the incident in July 2024, it says.
The first officer's failure to administer a breathalyzer test at the McDonald's "might well have been a misstep in the investigation," but based on the totality of her investigation there, Martino said he couldn't conclude that she didn't act within the limits of care prescribed by the law.
The second stop is a "more difficult issue," he said.
At that point, the second officer had seen the car drift across lanes of traffic and knew the driver had been stopped by his colleague earlier in the night, he wrote.
The driver also seemed confused about the documents he was providing, something the second officer presumably would have discussed with the first officer on the phone or after her arrival, he said.
That "constellation of factors" gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that the driver had alcohol in his body, which is the legal threshold for further testing, Martino wrote. "And yet, that did not occur," he noted.
"The test for criminal negligence is high — the impugned conduct must reflect a wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons. Mere errors of judgment or mistakes are insufficient to make out liability," the SIU director wrote.
"In the final analysis, when the officers’ indiscretions regarding the second stop are weighed in the balance with the extenuating considerations ... the evidence falls short of reasonably establishing that their conduct amounted to a marked and substantial departure from a reasonable level of care in the circumstances."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2026.
