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Two Durham police officers will stand trial in connection with a multi-vehicle collision in April 2024 that killed four people — including two grandparents and their infant grandchild — after police chased a suspect driving the wrong way on Canada’s busiest highway.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which examines deaths involving police, charged Sgt. Richard Flynn and Const. Brandon Hamilton in Jan. 2025 with three counts each of criminal negligence causing death and two counts each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
At court on Friday, Justice Craig Brannagan found there is enough admissible evidence that a jury could conclude the officers were a significant contributing cause towards the victims’ deaths.
The hearing does not determine whether the officers are guilty, as it means they will now be tried in court.
The crash happened on April 29, 2024 after police chose to pursue a suspect in a liquor store robbery who was driving the wrong way on Highway 401 in Whitby.
The chase ended in a collision that involved at least six vehicles, according to the SIU.
In one vehicle, Gokulnath Manivannan and his wife Ashwitha Jawahar were the only survivors. Their three-month old son, Aditya, and Manivannan’s parents — Manivannan Srinivasapillai and Mahalakshmi Ananthakrishnan — died in the crash.
Manivannan’s parents had only arrived in Canada from Chennai, India, two days before the crash, he said in a statement in May 2024.
The suspect in the liquor store robbery also died in the crash.
In October, Manivannan, Jawahar and two other family members launched a $25 million lawsuit against the officers involved, the police board and the estate of the suspect.
A statement of claim for the lawsuit reads the suspect — who struck the family’s vehicle — drove with “wanton disregard” for the wellbeing of motorists on Highway 401.
It also reads the officers “exercised negligent and reckless judgment” by pursuing the suspect.
The family is being represented by lawyers Brad Moscato and Adam Wagman with Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP.
Wagman said in an emailed statement the family has the “utmost respect for police,” but “something obviously went very wrong in this case.”
“This family deserves answers, and we must take steps to ensure an avoidable tragedy like this never happens again,” he said.
Durham Regional Police Association President Andrew Tummonds attended Friday’s hearing but declined to comment.
Laywers Lawrence Gridin, who is representing Flynn, and Sandy Khehra, who is representing Hamilton, said it will take a few months before a trial date is set, but declined to comment further.
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