Two days after a 62-year-old London woman was killed in a crash with a stolen vehicle that was fleeing from police, charges have been laid against three people.
Colleen Slota died after her vehicle was hit by a white GMC Sierra pickup truck at Adelaide Street South and Thompson Road early Wednesday morning. The pickup truck had been reported stolen and was being tailed by London police moments before the collision.
As a result of Slota’s death, the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was called in. According to a preliminary investigation, police located the stolen truck in the area of King Edward and Russell avenues, but when an officer began to follow the vehicle it took off at a “high rate of speed.” Shortly after, officers found the vehicle had collided with a Ford F-150 pickup truck at the Adelaide/Thompson intersection.
Slota, the driver of the Ford, was pronounced dead at the scene. Three people, two men and a woman, took off running from the Sierra. The woman was arrested and taken to hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries.
On Friday, police announced charges against two men and a woman.
A 38-year-old man, a 49-year-old man, and a 40-year-old woman have been jointly charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.
The 38-year-old faces additional charges of causing death by criminal negligence and failure to stop at the scene of a crash causing death. He has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. The other two accused will be back in court on May 31.
The SIU, which probes all incidents involving police resulting in death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault, has assigned two investigators and one forensic investigator to the case.
Anyone with information about the crash or what happened in the lead up to it, is asked to call the SIU lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. Videos or photos of the incident can also be submitted through the SIU’s website at siu.on.ca/en/appeals.php.
