Saskatchewan’s police oversight agency has found no officers acted improperly in an incident which saw a man die after crashing his truck into a sewage lagoon while fleeing a traffic stop.

A report published Wednesday from the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) found no actions from officers led to the death of an 18-year-old man who fled a traffic stop near Langham, Sask. in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 2024.

SIRT says the man passed away from acute cocaine intoxication.

What happened

The 18-year-old driver, referred to as the “affected person” in the report, visited a home in Saskatoon sometime between 8-9 p.m. on Aug. 23 and left at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 24.

Shortly after he left the home, two members of Warman RCMP witnessed the affected person’s truck in the area and made a note of the vehicle’s unevenly lit headlights and lack of taillights.

The police vehicle made a U-turn and tried pulling the affected person over on Highway 16. However, the driver did not stop. The officers ultimately made the decision to halt their attempted traffic stop and pulled over at 1:11 a.m., contacting other units in the area to be on the lookout for the truck — an older Chevrolet S-10 with a driver’s side door painted with a Canadian flag.

A member of the Corman Park Police Service (CPPS) responded, noting they believed they knew the identity and address of the affected person due to the vehicle’s distinctive appearance.

At 1:23 a.m., the CPPS officer eventually spotted the driver at the intersection of the Dalmeny Grid and Highway 16, travelling around 110 kilometres per hour with no lights on and its licence plate obscured.

The CPPS officer followed the driver from a distance, and witnessed him pull onto a back road near Langham at around 1:34 a.m. A short time later, the truck left the road and travelled through the ditch and entered a field west of Langham.

At this point, the CPPS officer radioed the unit which attempted the traffic stop to confirm it was related to offences under the Traffic Safety Act and not the Criminal Code.

The officers discussed the matter over the radio and concluded the truck wouldn’t get far as it was a two-wheel drive, and it was raining heavily. Members of the various police services involved met at the site where the truck left the road and debriefed, clearing the area shortly after.

At around 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 24, an officer with the Dalmeny Police Service (DPS) visited the affected person’s home and spoke with family members, who told police the behaviour was unusual and that they were worried — as the affected person had not come home.

The affected person was listed as missing the following day, as no activity was found on his cell phone or banking.

At around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25, the Saskatoon Police Service’s aerial unit spotted the affected person’s truck in a sewage lagoon northwest of Langham.

At 10:19 p.m., the Langham Fire Department got on scene and checked the partially submerged vehicle. No one was found inside and it was towed out of the lagoon.

The following day, Aug. 26, at 6:53 p.m., police received a call from a friend of the affected person, revealing the search group had found a body in the lagoon.

The investigation found at some point after the vehicle came to a stop in the lagoon, the affected person exited it and ultimately died as a result of acute cocaine intoxication.

SIRT, following a review of the evidence, which included interviews with 12 civilian witnesses and six officers — the watchdog agency found no reasonable basis that police actions caused or contributed to the affected person’s death.