An investigation into the death of a
motorcycle passenger two months ago has concluded that police actions
did not cause the death.
Forty-year-old Ioana Bocunescu fell off
the back seat of a motorcycle in late August after a Durham Regional
Police Service officer pulled up beside the motorcycle on Hwy 401 in
Whitby, Ontario around midnight. The officer is reported to have
noticed the bike speeding and attempted to pull over the operator.
According to crash investigators, when
the marked patrol car pulled up on the left side of the bike, the
officer made eye contact with the rider and signalled him to pull
over. The rider accelerated away from the officer’s marked patrol
car. Soon after that, the officer came upon the body of a woman in
the highway and stopped to provide help.
But she was dead. She had fallen off
the bike as the driver made some quick lane changes, the
investigators determined, and was run over by several vehicles. The
motorcycle operator did not stop.
Investigators found no evidence that
the officer made contact with the bike or pursued it, and therefore
the police officer twas not responsible for the fatality.
Bocunescu was a stroke survivor who had
earned a degree in economics in her native Romania. She had been
studying at Humber College in order to get a social services degree
and work with stroke victims.
The driver of the motorcycle, a 37-year-old North York, Ontario man, was arrested three weeks after the incident and has been charged with manslaughter, according to Toronto news station cp24.com.
Thanks to AlanB for the tip. We’ve updated the story.
P.S. Just so I’m clear – are you guys trying to blame the officer for the rider’s actions?
Pull up beside, get a look at his/her face, gear, bike, plate etc – anything that will help identify the rider and bike later if he does run or make him think he can be identified so that he/she doesn’t.
A Durham officer is an officer anywhere in Ontario for HTA enforcement. If I am not mistaken Highway 401 runs through Durham anyway. I am frequently on the 401 and 427 where I am for work.
Im with Steve on this one. Sounds like the explanation was squeeky clean. Pull up beside and make eye contact ???
Plus WTF is a Durham Regional patrolling the 401. That’s OPP Territory. In fact there is an OPP Detatchment just off of the Brock St Exit.
What’s that stink in the air ? Too bad someone had to die.
How many of us have ever had an officer pull ALONGSIDE and “make eye contact” when they pulled us over?
Just my suspicious nature I guess but seems to me that, unless it’s radar, they pull in and light ’em up from directly behind.
After reading this I thought someone had been apprehended.
Sat Sep 18 13:44:05 EDT 2010
Police make arrest after woman falls from motorcycle, dies
Police have made an arrest three weeks after a woman fell off the back of a motorcycle and was run over on Highway 401 in Whitby. The motorcycle’s driver did not stop.
North York’s Rashid Soujah, 37, has been charged with manslaughter.
For more information, read the story on CP24.com or tune in to CP24.