No criminal charges will be laid against a police officer who drove over a woman’s feet while she was jaywalking in downtown Toronto, according to the province’s police watchdog.

The incident took place last October.

The Special Investigations Unit said a 57-year-old woman was walking south on the west side of Simcoe St. approaching Richmond St. W.

She began to cross the road at the Richmond St. W. intersection, which does not have a crosswalk.

According to the SIU, a police cruiser was slowing to a stop just past the intersection and made contact with the woman on the front right side of the car.

She sustained “several” fractures to both her ankles as a result of the crash.

“The woman was jaywalking at the time and ought to have been paying greater attention to roadway traffic,” said Acting Director Joseph Martino.

He added that the woman’s vision might have been obscured by her hood.

Martino said that on the other hand, the officer involved should “accept his share of the responsibility for the collision.”

“As it does not appear the officer saw the woman until the point of contact, I am left to conclude that he was paying insufficient attention to the road as he approached the site of the collision,” he said.

However, Martino said the officer appeared to have been operating his cruiser safely before the collision, and “there is no evidence to suggest the officer’s want of care was anything more than a momentary and singular indiscretion.”

The SIU investigates interactions between civilians and police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

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