RCMP are looking into tips suggesting a truck driver wanted on a Canada-wide warrant could be in Ontario.
Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Tuesday the tips came from the Greater Toronto Area and Manitoba RCMP are following up with local authorities.
Navjeet Singh, 25, is wanted on charges stemming from a fatal collision that killed 35-year-old Sara Unger and her eight-year-old daughter, Alex Unger, near Altona on Nov. 15.
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According to tips from the Greater Toronto Area, Navjeet Singh, wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, could be in Ontario.
Singh, who is from Brampton, Ont., which is in the GTA, has been on the run since he was released from hospital following the incident.
“He’s got information he needs to provide to police,” Manaigre said. “It’s a Canada-wide warrant. At some point, it’s going to come back to you. The best thing to do is turn himself in and seek advice from legal counsel.
“Running from police is not the answer.”
Police allege Singh was driving a semi-trailer that blew through a stop sign at an intersection near Altona and struck the Ungers’ SUV.
Singh was taken to hospital following the crash, and officers attempted to interview him, but RCMP said he was too shaken up to provide a statement at the time.
A subsequent meeting was scheduled for the following day, but Singh failed to show up.
The person Singh was staying with after the collision has been co-operating, RCMP said, adding there has been no contact between that individual and Singh since he vanished.
Singh has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and a single count of obstructing a peace officer.
RCMP last week defended the decision not to detain him after the crash, suggesting there was no indication he would be a flight risk.
“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Manaigre said. “When you look at, ‘OK, now he is running,’ well, then of course we should have detained him, but when you can’t get information from the driver at the hospital… we can’t talk to him.”
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Sara Unger, 35, and her eight-year-old daughter Alexa Unger, who lived in the Rural Municipality of Rhineland, were killed at the intersection of provincial roads 201 and 306, shortly after 7 p.m. November 15. RCMP said a tractor-trailer did not stop at a stop sign while travelling east on PR 201.
Manaigre added that it’s not uncommon for officers to give people involved in collisions time to recover from the shock before they provide statements to police.
He also said that arresting Singh at the time could have compromised the case against him later on if it had been rushed.
Former prosecutor Brandon Trask told the Free Press last week that he disagreed with the assessment from RCMP.
“I think anybody looking back on this turn of events on this case might say, ‘Well, wasn’t it foreseeable? Wasn’t it predictable that this could have happened?’” Trask said.
Manaigre said Tuesday that it’s not as simple as that.
“We have a system in place where you need your reasonable, probable grounds,” he said. “I would say absolutely, without a doubt, the process won’t change.”
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca
Scott Billeck
Reporter
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
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