Update (8:30 p.m.):
The SIU said late this evening that the body of an 80-year-old man was recovered from the water at 6:49 p.m.
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Update (8 p.m.):
The province’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding a man who is missing after he drove his vehicle into Georgian Bay in Midland following an interaction with an Ontario Provincial Police officer this afternoon.
Preliminary information suggests the following:
- At approximately 3 p.m., a Southern Georgian Bay Ontario Provincial Police officer stopped the driver of a vehicle for a suspected Highway Traffic Act violation.
- The officer and the man conversed before the man entered the water in his vehicle near Bayshore Drive and William Street.
- Officers entered the water. The vehicle sank and the man did not exit the vehicle.
- The OPP dive team has responded.
Three investigators and one forensic investigator have been assigned to the case.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations
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ORIGINAL STORY (6 p.m.):
A vehicle has plunged into the waters of Georgian Bay near the Midland boat launch at the bottom of William Street.
There is a "heavy presence" of emergency personnel including OPP officers, Midland firefighters and Simcoe County paramedics.
CTV News reported that police believe a person may be in the vehicle.
The OPP's Underwater Search and Recovery Unit is now on the scene and assisting with the investigation.
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