Saskatoon police yet to lay driving charges in Circle Drive crash as teen appears in court

Saskatoon police are still working out whether to lay driving-related charges against a 17-year-old boy alleged to have been behind the wheel of a vehicle involved in a fatal crash on Circle Drive.

Emergency crews were called to a three-vehicle crash on the freeway between Attridge Drive and 108th Street around 1:25 p.m. Wednesday.

The teen was allegedly driving a vehicle travelling northbound on Circle Drive when, according to police, it hit a slow-moving piece of construction equipment.

The vehicle then crossed the median and crashed into a southbound vehicle driven by a 70-year-old man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police reported they had patrol officers looking for the boy after they got two calls about the suspect vehicle driving erratically before the collision.

Traffic was closed off and delayed in the area for around six hours Wednesday evening due to the nature of the investigation and scale of the crime scene.

The 17 year old appeared in court Thursday morning on four counts related to breaching court-ordered conditions, including he not consume alcohol.

The boy is due back in court Friday morning.

Saskatoon police said the investigation into any criminal driving charges is ongoing.

In a news release Thursday, police described the challenges of examining a crash:

“Collision investigators must carefully and systematically preserve and collect evidence of what has occurred. The police must never arrive at a crash, assume one person is responsible and employ shortcuts in the investigation.

The courts have established standards of investigational competence for police services and police can be held civilly liable.”