Police watchdog says no grounds for charges in death of man at Macdonald bridge

Nova Scotia's police watchdog said Tuesday it will not chargeany officers in the death of a 29-year-old man who fled from Halifax police last fall and fell from the Macdonald bridge.

The Serious Incident Response Team has ruled the death a suicide.

In the early morning on Oct. 21, 2019, officers were involved in a "slow speed pursuit" of a vehicle driving dangerously around the MacKay and Macdonald bridges, SIRT said.

SIRT says the pursuit began in Dartmouth after the 29-year-old man did not stop at a red light.

Police said at the time that they chased the driver across the Macdonald, then acrossthe MacKay and across the Macdonald again.

The SIRTnews release says a spike belt was put at the Dartmouth end of the MacKay bridge. The car struck the belt and one tire was flattened, but it continue to go through a closed toll gate, snapping it off.

Around 2 a.m. an officer was travelling from Halifax to Dartmouth on the Macdonald bridge and met the man's vehicle in the middle of the bridge.

SIRT says the officer called for back-up and several officers responded.

The man stopped his vehicle, exited from the driver's side door and ran to the fencing along the pedway.

One of the responding officers caught up to the man just as he was climibing over the safety fence. SIRT says the officer was able to get ahold of the man while he was on the other side of the fence, but the officer lost his grip on the man who had been struggling with the officer and the man fell to his death.

The police watchdog determined the officer did everything he could to prevent the man from falling, but was unable to maintain his hold.

SIRT says officers did not follow the man at a high rate of speed and were not following him when he began driving down Macdonald bridge for the final time.