What is the current state of the law on police vehicle pursuit?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Cheung v. MacDonald, 2003 BCSC 689 (CanLII):

As the Court of Appeal stated in Doern v. Phillips Estate at ¶ 18: 18 Every one must recognize that the members of our police forces should not be unduly hampered in the discharge of their difficult and often dangerous work. The police vehicle pursuit policy is a guideline for officers which attempts to balance the public interest in the apprehension of suspected criminals, with the need to maintain reasonable levels of safety for the police and the public as the police discharge their duties. Whether particular police conduct departs so far from the guidelines and from the standard of care imposed by law, as to constitute negligence is a heavily fact dependent question. Even if I held a different view of the evidence to that of the trial judge, which I do not, it would not be open to us to substitute our judgment for hers in a case which is essentially one of fact.

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