IIO clears police in fatal 2023 crash in B.C. Interior [Video]

British Columbia’s independent police watchdog has cleared officers of wrongdoing in a crash where three people were killed south of Kamloops in July of last year.

A report from the Independent Investigations Office says a man was driving recklessly at a high rate of speed and was in the wrong lane on Highway 97D near Logan Lake when he hit another vehicle head-on. The man and the two occupants in the other car died.

The report says RCMP had removed the man who caused the crash from a hotel in Merritt, about 90 minutes before the fatal collision, triggering an investigation into whether police actions may have played a role in the crash.

Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund says in the report that a toxicology test done on the man found evidence of cannabis consumption above the legal driving limit, but officers were “reasonable” in deciding not to apprehend the …