B.C. police watchdog recommends charges against officers involved in crash with stolen pickup

British Columbia's police watchdog has filed a report to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges against officers involved in a crash in Kamloops last December.

The Independent Investigations Office says the RCMP reported on Dec. 8, 2018, that a crash occurred between an unmarked police car and a stolen pickup truck at around 12:30 a.m.

The office says the RCMPindicatedat the time that previous attempts to stop the truck had been unsuccessful and during the arrest, the driver suffered injuries.

The office conducted an investigation and chief civilian director Ron MacDonald says in a news release Monday that reasonable grounds exist to believe that officers committed offences.

The IIO is a civilianpolice oversight agency responsible for conducting investigations into incidents of death or serious harm involving police officers, whether they are on or off duty.

MacDonaldsays the oversight agency has asked the prosecution service to consider charges of assault against one officer and charges related to Criminal Code and Motor Vehicle Act driving offences against all three officers.

In order to approve the charges, the office says the prosecution service must be satisfied that there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence and that the prosecution is in the public interest.