Investigation
Amherst Incident with Serious Injuries
Date Published: 2024-02-05
Province: Nova Scotia
Police Agency: Amherst Police Department
Summary
In the early morning hours of October 17, 2023, a member of the Amherst Police Department (the “Subject Officer”/”SO”) was conducting static surveillance in an area of Amherst that was a high priority for police due to habitual criminal activity in the area. The SO was in a fully marked police vehicle with its headlights turned off. Throughout the incident that is the subject of this summary, the in-car video camera of the SO’s police vehicle was activated and recorded the events. The camera has three streams: two in the front of the vehicle and one in the back.
Just after 1:00 a.m. the SO saw a vehicle fail to stop at a stop sign or to signal its turn. The SO followed the vehicle, and saw it again fail to stop and signal. The SO was concerned that the driver could be impaired, and due to concerns for safety and the multiple Motor Vehicle Act infractions, he activated his emergency lights…