B.C. officer cleared in crash that involved chase of murder suspects

SURREY — British Columbia’s independent police watchdog has cleared an RCMP officer in a vehicle chase of homicide suspects that ended in a crash that injured two people.

The Independent Investigations Office says in a report that the crash happened on Oct. 17, 2022, at an intersection of Highway 91 and Westminster Highway near the New Westminster-Richmond boundary.

The police vehicle crashed into a Honda CR-V containing three people who were suspects in a fatal shooting that day at Vancouver’s University Golf Club, but the Honda then hit a second vehicle that was stopped at a red light.

One of the suspects suffered a broken leg and other injuries in the crash, while the driver of the other vehicle struck sustained minor injuries.

The office’s chief civilian director Jessica Berglund says in the report that it wasn’t unreasonable for the officer involved “to make a split-second decision” to end the chase by force, given “the seriousness of the crime and the urgent need to apprehend the suspects.”

All three men were later convicted of murder-related charges, and homicide investigators had said they “showed a complete disregard for public safety” during their attempted escape from multiple crime scenes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2025.