SIU clears officer in Fort Erie dirt bike crash investigation

Brent Jones
October 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM

Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a Niagara Regional Police officer of wrongdoing after a 27-year-old man was injured while fleeing from police on a dirt bike in Fort Erie earlier this year.

The man suffered a fractured clavicle after losing control of his dirt bike.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) released its findings on October 15, concluding there were no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident.

A Niagara Regional Police cruiser sits in the area of Beatrice and King streets last June after a dirt bike driver was injured while fleeing from police. Credit: Kris Dubé

According to the SIU’s report, police received a call about an impaired driver operating a motorcycle in the early morning hours of June 29.

An officer attempted a traffic stop near Garrison Road and King Street after turning on emergency lights, but the rider fled west on Garrison and then south on King. The officer followed briefly at “moderate speeds,” the SIU said, before discontinuing the attempt when it became clear the rider would not stop.

SIU Director Joseph Martino found that the officer was “well back of the motorcycle when the man lost control and crashed,” adding there was “no suggestion of any want of care on the part of the officer in relation to the collision.”

The independent agency opened the investigation after the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) notified it of the incident.

At the time, NRPS spokesperson Stephanie Sabourin told Fort Erie Radio that officers had responded to reports of an alleged impaired driver around 1:20 a.m. in the area of Albany and Beatrice streets, and that a male was later found injured nearby.

The man was treated at the scene and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Sabourin said in June.

Under Ontario law, the SIU is required to investigate cases involving police when there is serious injury, death or an allegation of sexual assault.