Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a car crash in New Tecumseth, north of Schomberg, left a woman dead.

In a news release, the Special Investigations Unit said that close to midnight on Monday, an Ontario Provincial Police officer was in the area when he saw someone driving a Pontiac and began to follow them.

The officer lost sight of the vehicle, a separate OPP press release says, but later found the Pontiac at the intersection of 20th Sideroad and 5th Line, where the Pontiac had collided with a Volkswagen.

The driver of the Volkswagen, a 23-year-old woman, was injured and rushed to hospital. Her passenger, a 36-year-old woman from Barrie, was pronounced dead at hospital.

The driver of the Pontiac, Ryan Buckley, 23, of Bradford-West Gwillimbury, was arrested and charged with dangerous operation causing death and failing to comply with a probation order.

He is scheduled to appear in Bradford court on Oct. 24.

The SIU is an arm’s-length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas

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