OPP officer charged with street racing, cruiser impounded

Source: Windsor Star

ONTARIO - An Essex County OPP officer has been charged with street racing after a marked cruiser crashed into a Kingsville ditch Thursday night.

The single-vehicle crash occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Graham Side Road.

According to a news release from the Western Region OPP headquarters in London, the OPP cruiser was travelling south on Graham Side Road when it allegedly failed to stop at the intersection of Road 7 and ended up in the south ditch. The driver, 26-year-old OPP Const. Kristopher Gagnier, was treated at Leamington Hospital for minor injuries and released.

As a result of an investigation by the OPP technical collision team, Gagnier was charged with street racing under the Highway Traffic Act for exceeding the posted speed limit by 50 kilometres per hour, but the news release did not indicate how fast he was travelling. He was also charged with speeding.

As required under the street racing legislation, the damaged OPP cruiser was impounded for seven days and Gagnier’s driver’s licence was suspended for seven days.

Gagnier has been an officer with OPP’s Essex detachment for three years. He is to appear in Windsor provincial court Jan. 4.

Gagnier is not the first police officer to be charged under the province’s tough street racing law, introduced in 2007. Several other OPP officers elsewhere in the province have been slapped with the charge while on duty this year.

More than 15,000 drivers have been charged with street racing since 2007.

A street racing charge automatically leads to a conviction, which can carry a minimum fine of $2,000 and up to six months in jail. Two Ontario judges have ruled the law unconstitutional, but police have continued to enforce it and lay charges. The issue is scheduled to be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal.