Manitoba The Indpendent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is not recommending any charges for officers after a First Nations woman was fatally hit by an unmarked police vehicle near a riverside homeless encampment more than a year ago. Tammy Bateman was killed on Sept. 2, 2024, after she was hit by an unmarked police car in Fort Rouge Park Lauren Scott · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 7:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoTammy Bateman was killed when she was struck by a police vehicle as it was driving through Fort Rouge Park on the night of Sept. 2, 2024. (Ron Dhaliwal/CBC)Manitoba’s police watchdog is not recommending any charges for officers after a First Nations woman was fatally hit by an unmarked police vehicle near a riverside homeless encampment more than a year ago. Tammy Bateman was struck by the police vehicle as it was driving through Fort Rouge Park on the night of Sept. 2, 2024, while officers were taking a person back to the encampment after dealing with an outstanding warrant. She was taken to hospital, where she later died of her injuries. Bateman, who was in her 30s, was a member of Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation and had young children, her sister said at a vigil last year.An autopsy report confirmed that Bateman’s cause of death was blunt trauma from being run over by a vehicle, according to the final report from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, released Wednesday.In the investigation unit’s report, acting civilian director Bruce M. Sychuk wrote that he believes the officer who ran Bateman over did not commit a criminal offence, calling the situation an “unfortunate accident.”Investigators with the unit interviewed one witness officer and three civilian witnesses. The officer who was driving the car declined to be interviewed and provided a statement instead. They also reviewed excerpts from officers’ notes and reports, audio transmissions, a collision analysis report, GPS information and medical reports.Speed of vehicleOne witness, who was interviewed the day after the collision, told investigators Bateman had been lying down on her stomach along the gravel road, the report said. The witness said she was wearing black clothes at the time. A toxicologist’s report said Bateman had a level of ethanol in her system that could leave a person “almost unconscious” and “potentially in a coma,” with reflexes absent, according to the IIU report.The witness said the police car had been moving at a speed “a little slower than a walk” at the time.Another witness, however, described the vehicle “coming down the hill way too fast.” According to GPS data reviewed by investigators, the vehicle was going about six kilometres per hour just before the accident. However, the exact speed at the time of the accident was unavailable, the report said, because the reading relies on cellular service, along with the vehicle moving at a certain speed and distance to trigger another reading.’Heartbreaking and significant consequences’The first witness said he heard Bateman scream after she was hit. He said he kicked the police vehicle but it did not stop. The officer who was driving the vehicle said in a statement his vision was limited because the sun had already set, stressing that he was driving slowly due to lack of light, according to the police watchdog’s report.The vehicle’s headlights were on at the time of the accident, the report said.The driver wrote that the front of the vehicle went up and down and made a “clunking noise,” but he claimed he didn’t see anything. The driver’s partner, who was interviewed more than six weeks after the fatal accident, said it was dark out and he did not see Bateman on the ground either. The partner told investigators there was a streetlight near the crash site, but it was “not a very powerful light.” The driver said they got out of the vehicle with their flashlights shortly after they heard a man yelling and hitting the police vehicle. When they approached the scene, they could see a “motionless figure laying across the roadway,” the driver’s statement said. Sychuk wrote that he believes the driver did not see Bateman in his final report. “Upon reviewing all the evidence available, the situation is an accident with heartbreaking and significant consequences,” Sychuk wrote. “Reviewing the evidence against the charging standard required, the civilian director is of the opinion that the subject officer did not commit any offence, and the incident was an unfortunate accident,” he wrote. Sychuk said he is not recommending charges against the officer, and the watchdog agency’s investigation is now closed. ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Scott is a Winnipeg-based reporter with CBC Manitoba. They hold a master’s degree in computational and data journalism, and have previously worked for the Hamilton Spectator and The Canadian Press.
No charges recommended for officer who ran over woman in Winnipeg park: police watchdog
