A Kamloops Mountie took three days to file a report after witnessing Donavin Akerley's fatal motorcycle accident in Kamloops.

The officer, who was off-duty but the first on the scene, also failed to tell the investigating officer that he turned on his lights when Akerley sped past him seconds before the crash.

B.C.'s police watchdog investigated the Sept. 26, 2021 fatal collision where Akerley collided with a Dodge Ram, but it found no "reasonable grounds" that the Kamloops RCMP officer committed a criminal offence, according to a report on its decision.

The decision details the seconds before Akerley died, according to statements from witnesses and the officer who followed him.

None of the witnesses or RCMP officers in the report are named.

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At 6:50 p.m. that day, the officer was driving a police van on Highway 1. He was one of two vehicles driving side-by-side when Akerley came up behind on his motorcycle.

The civilian driver estimated that Akerley sped up from 80 km/h to 120 km/h "within seconds" to pass between the two vehicles. That's when the witness saw the blue and red lights on the police van turn on, according to the July 8 Independent Investigations Office of B.C. decision.

Less than a kilometre away, Akerley struck a Dodge Ram that was turning left onto the highway from Highland Road.

He died at the scene.

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The civilian driver, who's the first of four witnesses in the report, approached where the officer was stopped at the intersection, still in the van.

He offered a statement, but the officer replied, "No, I saw everything."

Because the officer in the van was off-duty, another officer came to the scene once he called it in to dispatchers.

The second officer, who began investigating the collision, told the first officer he should file a written police report "as soon as possible," according to the decision. He filed the report three days later.

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The officer in the van told the other officer he "came across this (collision)," but failed to mention he turned on his lights when Akerley passed.

"He didn't really say too much," the investigating officer said, other than that he was going to "get going" home, according to the decision.

Once he left the scene, the officer in the van called his union representative to say he might have forgotten to mention he turned on his lights. He also told the union rep that he did not speed up to follow Akerley.

IIO investigators found the mobile data recorder in the van, which would normally track its speed and location, had no data on the event. It wasn't turned on at the time because the officer wasn't on duty and he was heading home from an assignment, according to the decision.

Chief civilian director Ronald J. MacDonald found no grounds for an offence, so it won't be referred to Crown counsel.

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