IIO concludes 2023 tractor crash probe

B.C.’s police watchdog isn’t recommending charges against police officers in a wild incident on Highway 1 late last year, when a tractor crashed into a BC Highway Patrol cruiser and rolled over.

It happened on Nov. 25, 2023. Social media posts showed the tractor on the highway being chased by two police vehicles before it collided with one of them.

“As a result of the interactions between the police vehicles and the tractor, the vehicles were located on Hwy 17 when a collision occurred,” the Independent Investigations Office of BC said in a bulletin Friday.

Mounties said at the time the tractor was believed to have been involved in a protest, and was possibly part of an anti-SOGI convoy making its way down the highway at the time.

The IIO says the driver was ejected from the tractor and was seriously injured. He was taken to the hospital.

“The Chief Civilian Director has reviewed the evidence – civilian witness statements, forensic scene analysis, video footage, medical records, and police information – and determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe any officer may have committed an offence,” the IIO said, adding its investigation has since concluded.