RCMP officers have been cleared by the police watchdog after an incident near Lytton last summer, where a suspected impaired driver fled on foot before drowning in the Fraser River.

The traffic stop happened at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2020, about one kilometre south of Lytton on the Trans-Canada Highway.

According to a report released today by the Independent Investigations Office, the driver was pulled over for speeding and was later suspected to be impaired. The officer was about to do a sobriety check when the driver fled on foot, crossing the highway and running down a steep embankment.

Officers did not pursue him and then had his vehicle towed.

The man was reported missing the next day, and his body was found on Aug. 18, 2020, near Hope in the Fraser River.

In today’s report, IIO chief civilian officer Ronald MacDonald says he investigated whether the officer may have committed an offense by not pursuing the man down the embankment.

“In hindsight it could be questioned whether an earlier search by (the officer) may have discovered (the man) before he drowned, this case must be based on what the officer knew at the time… It was not safe for the officer to chase (the man) down a steep bank on a dark night with no other officers as backup.”

MacDonald also says there was no reason for the officer to believe at the time that the man may have harmed himself. He says the man lived close by, and that it was also reasonable for the officer to think he would’ve gone home from the scene.

It’s also unclear when, where or why the man went into the river, or where exactly he may have drowned.

The victim was not named in the IIO report, but he was previously described as being five-feet-nine-inches tall and 140 pounds. He was driving a 1994 Ford Ranger when he was pulled over, and had been wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt, black shorts and black sandals at the time.