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B.C.’s police watchdog has cleared a Surrey police officer of wrongdoing in a crash last December that left one woman dead.
In a report issued Friday, Independent Investigations Office (IIO) Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund called the pedestrian’s death “tragic,” but said she found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed an offence.
The crash happened just after 7 p.m. PT on Dec. 14, 2025, a night witnesses described as dark and rainy, according to the report.
Two officers were responding to a domestic violence call in the area of 152 Street and 64 Avenue in Surrey.
The officer who hadn’t been driving told IIO investigators the call was rated “priority one” — meaning one of the most serious, high-priority calls police are sent to — and they were the main responding unit.
They put their lights and sirens on, the officer said, and the driving officer steered into a turning lane on 152 Street to pass vehicles ahead of them.
Police officers walk along the crash scene in Surrey on Dec. 14, 2025. Witnesses told the IIO it was a dark and rainy night. (Shane MacKichan)
Data from the police vehicle obtained by IIO investigators showed that after turning south onto the street, the officer accelerated to 120.9 km/h. The speed limit on 152 Street is 60 km/h.
The accompanying officer and civilian witnesses in nearby vehicles both described a pedestrian in dark clothing crossing 152 Street.
The accompanying officer said he didn’t see her until she was already on the road.
A civilian witness said she was moving quickly, straight across the street.
Both said the driving officer had at most a second to respond.
Despite immediate life-saving attempts by police and paramedics, the woman died, the report said. Her family members later told investigators she was deaf in her left ear and partially deaf in the right.
The IIO was called in. It’s mandated to investigate all police-involved incidents that result in serious harm or death.
The report said the officer had to “balance between the harm he is trying to avoid (in this case, the potential harm to anyone at the scene of the reported domestic disturbance) and the harm risked by exceeding the speed limit (in this case, in dark and rainy conditions).”
“Ultimately, the evidence shows that even if the police vehicle had been travelling at the speed limit, this tragic accident could still have occurred,” the report said.
“When the [affected person], dressed in dark clothing and apparently neither seeing nor hearing approaching traffic, ran out into the roadway in the middle of the block, she might have been struck by a civilian vehicle as easily as by the … police vehicle.”
The matter will not be referred to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges, the report concluded.