An investigation into an incident where a man suffered fractures to his skull and both elbows after falling from an e-scooter while being stopped by police in Surrey, B.C., has concluded. The Independent Investigations Office was called in to probe the man’s claim his injuries were caused when he was rammed by an officer with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police driving an unmarked SUV in October of last year. In a report released Thursday, the watchdog found there was insufficient evidence to support the man’s allegations—while also noting “no video recording was located showing how the (man) came to fall from the scooter.” The man, referred to as the “AP,” or affected person, was spotted by patrol officers in Surrey who “considered that he was driving in a dangerous manner,” according to the report, which said the man was reportedly weaving in and out of traffic “at speed.” After two attempts to pull the man over were unsuccessful, an officer “broadcast over the radio that the AP was arrestable for obstruction and requested other units to be on the watch for him,” the report said. Two officers in an unmarked SUV spotted the AP and pursued him, the report said, adding that the vehicle’s lights and sirens were activated by the driver—whose actions were the subject of the investigation. “The (officer) drove up beside the AP in an unmarked police vehicle, and the officer riding as passenger directed the AP to stop,” the IIO report said. “In the course of the interaction, the AP fell from the scooter and was injured.” The AP was handcuffed at the scene and ultimately released with a ticket. He went to the hospital later that day. “He was diagnosed with injuries including fractured skull, fractured elbows and a suspected orbital bone fracture. His medical records indicate that he reported having been hit by a police vehicle, but add, ‘unable to recall exact events’ and at another point, ‘unable to recall things,’” the report said. Officers who are being investigated by the IIO are not required to provide evidence to the IIO, and the officer in this case did not provide his account of what happened. Given that, the IIO was left with the AP’s account from the hospital and that of the officer who was in the passenger seat at the time of the incident—which were “conflicting.” The officer said the police vehicle had “no contact” with the AP, and that the man was thrown from the scooter when the front wheel hit the curb. The IIO examined the police SUV and found no evidence of a collision with the AP or the scooter, according to the report. “While it is not possible to reconcile the opposing accounts with certainty, it is significant that the AP has acknowledged uncertainty in his recall of the event,” the report said. “Considering also that no physical evidence was found indicating contact between the (police) vehicle and AP’s scooter, the evidence as a whole does not support the AP’s allegations.” If the man’s allegations had been sufficiently supported by the evidence, the report said the officer could have faced a charge of assault with a weapon or dangerous driving.
