(Vancouver Sun) – White Rock RCMP officer Const. David Bickle has been charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in connection with a police chase last year that resulted in the death of a pedestrian.
The charge follows an investigation by Vancouver police which found Bickle’s actions and failure to follow federal and provincial guidelines regarding pursuit driving contributed to the death of a pedestrian, Vancouver police said in a news release Monday.
Bickle was allegedly attempting to stop a vehicle near the White Rock waterfront on Marine Drive just before 10 p.m. on May 18 last year and set off in pursuit of the vehicle, Vancouver police said. That vehicle, driven by Kyle Danyliuk, crashed into another vehicle at the intersection of Thrift Avenue and Johnston Road. Danyliuk then accelerated through the intersection against a red traffic signal and struck pedestrian Marilyn Laursen as she attempted to cross Johnston Road.
The suspect did not stop to help Laursen, 56, who was transported to Peach Arch hospital, where she later died.
Danyliuk was arrested and pleaded guilty to four charges in February. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
White Rock RCMP asked Vancouver police to conduct an investigation into Bickle’s actions during the incident.
At the time, Bickle had served two years with the RCMP. White Rock was his only posting since graduating from the RCMP’s training centre in Regina. He had been working alone the night of the collision, operating a marked police vehicle and working in full police uniform, the news release said.
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Members had to know things were going to go down hill for them when they started having to refer to the POS suspects as the “clients”.
Policing is turning into human garbage collection where white gloves must be worn. But, don’t you dare get those gloves dirty!
Real good. The criminal kills someone and the member gets charged because they found some nugget in the 9 pages of policy that he did not follow. Pretty soon we will not be doing anything risky to protect the public. Hope they like what they get in the end. No video-no charges, no chases, no bad language, must not frown at the accused, don’t use the taser, don’t shoot anyone with a knife, but its OK to get beat or kicked or run into, or shot, no problem with that. The courts dont care. The upside of course is the media will have no grist for its mill. And we will have another 200 baby Inspectors to make sure it all runs smoothly.