91Ô­´´

A completely avoidable and unforgivable calamity that would never have happened if cops hadn’t given hair-raising pursuit — racing in wrong-way traffic across busy Highway 401 — as motorists dodged and swerved to avoid both police vehicles and the suspect fleeing in a cargo van.

Far too often this is the deathly havoc that results from police chases. It makes little difference that the suspect is firstly and foremostly culpable for the consequences. That will be of precious small comfort to the grieving.

And for what? Somebody please answer the question.

This possibly wasn’t even a robbery, though the initial bulletin tweeted out by Durham Regional Police described it as such: “Police called to a robbery in Clarington. The suspect fled when police arrived and a pursuit was initiated. The suspect proceeded onto the 401 highway in the opposite direction, resulting in a multi-vehicle collision with fatalities. Further information to follow…”

Nowhere in that dispatch is there anything to back up the claim it had been a robbery. No mention of a weapon, though the Star has independently learned that the thief pulled a knife when confronted by an off-duty cop. Was a weapon wielded menacingly? Was there a hostage taken? What demanded a chase if no lives were in jeopardy? The Special Investigations Unit, which has taken over the investigation, said there was one occupant in the van — killed in the crash. Was there anyone else in the vehicle? That question was asked but not answered.

Under the Criminal Code, robbery, as distinct from theft, requires “contemporaneous use of violence or threats of violence in the course of, and for the purpose of, taking another person’s property” and there must be more than a temporal link between the threats and the violence.

From the scant details thus far — the Star was stonewalled by corporate LCBO and management at that particular outlet on Highway 2 near Whitby and Durham Police — it’s impossible to clarify what actually occurred in the store. Yet the DRPS asserted otherwise.

The LCBO has a definitive theft policy which employees must review at least once a year. It stresses that the primary consideration when a theft is occurring is the safety of staff and customers. Workers are prohibited from attempting to detain or arrest a suspect and from physically touching or attempting to control or apprehend the thief.

But there was that off-duty Durham officer present on Monday night and this person became aware of the “robbery,” calling it in at 7:50 p.m. Which brought, for inexplicable reasons, a full-metal-jacket response, initiated by the off-duty cop. He, according to unconfirmed information gleaned by the Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro, roared off in pursuit in his own personal vehicle, then other police cars joined in.

And 20 minutes later four people were dead.

An OPP officer spotting the dangerous chase tells his dispatcher, on audio obtained by the Star: “Someone’s going to get hurt.”

Any warning seems to have gone unheeded. It’s unknown at this point if the pursuing officers ever peeled off or if the chase was sanctioned by a supervisor, as required.

“Officers made their way to the scene and located a vehicle of interest, a cargo van,” SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon told media at the scene Tuesday morning, explaining the sequence of events. “Officers followed the cargo van through numerous streets in Durham Region as the vehicle drove erratically. At Stephenson Road, the cargo van entered Highway 401 travelling in the wrong direction, travelling westbound in eastbound lanes.

“Shortly afterwards there was a multi-vehicle collision involving at least six vehicles. An occupant of the cargo van was pronounced deceased at the scene. Three individuals from a civilian vehicle were also pronounced dead at the scene. In that vehicle were a 60-year-old, a 55-year-old and an infant.” One other person was transported to hospital with serious injuries.

The cube van plowed into a transport truck — the front of the truck caved in — which triggered the multiple-vehicle crash.

Videos posted online captured at least one marked police SUV tearing after the van, lights flashing, at speed. Hudon couldn’t say how many police cars had joined the chase but at least one police vehicle was towed away afterwards and an eyewitness told CP24 said he’d seen upwards of 15 police cars converging in the chase. Which is likely an exaggeration but definitely not a lone scout car. The OPP officer, on the audio tape, says six police cars are in pursuit.

There are rules about when a police chase may be engaged, provincial legislation directives for all police departments in Ontario that were updated on April 1. Pursuits are permitted only when an officer has reason to believe a crime has been committed. It specifies that officers should not be in a pursuit if alternatives can be “readily” implemented, if the risk to public safety is outweighed by the risk of attempting to apprehend the suspect, and during the pursuit officers must “continually reassess” those risks, with a supervisor determining when a chase should be called off if the risk is too high.

The 91Ô­´´ Police Service bans chases outright.

Durham Region has a police helicopter that can respond in minutes to a developing incident. There was absolutely no justification for imperiling the public in these circumstances and definitely not over an alleged minor offence, even if the suspect was known to police — no indication he was. Further, suspects don’t just vanish into thin air. They leave a trail, they’re caught on highway cameras; can’t move an inch these days without being captured on CCTV.

You put a child in a car seat, you obey all the rules of the road, and then suddenly you’re all collateral carnage because some cowboy cops are chasing a two-bit thief — or robber — burning rubber.

Reprehensible. And it must stop. Copy?