Brandon police officers charged with driving offences by IIU

The civilian director of Manitoba's police watchdog has charged two Brandon police officers withdriving offences.

One officer was charged with careless driving and another with imprudent driving, says an Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba newsrelease issued Wednesday.

• Investigation unit probes case of man injured in Brandon cruiser
• IIU has closed 44 cases since launch 18 months ago

The charges date back to an incident on Sept. 10, 2016, when a man was injured while in Brandon police custody.

While inside a police cruiser, the man, who was intoxicated at the time,hit his head on the interior of the car, cutting his face above his left eye.

Moments later another police cruiser rear-ended the police car, the IIU said.

This is the second incident in which charges have been laid against officers by the IIU, which started investigating cases in June 2015. The first was in October 2015, when an RCMP officer in The Pas, Man.,was charged with assault.

The two police officers charged are scheduled to appear in Brandon provincial court on April 6.

Brandon Police Service said both will remain on active duty.