Mountie in B.C. charged with driving without due care and attention

An RCMP patch is seen on the shoulder of a Surrey RCMP Officer in Charge on Friday, April 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The British Columbia Prosecution Service says a Vancouver Island RCMP officer has been charged with driving without due care and attention.

The charge against Staff Sgt. Steven Perret stems from an incident in Ladysmith on June 1, 2024, when Perret was a member of the Vancouver Island District RCMP.

The charge was approved Thursday against Perret, who is currently serving with the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP, the prosecution service said in a statement.

“The charges were approved by an experienced Crown counsel who has no connection with the accused,” the statement said.

Perret is scheduled to make his first appearance on the charge in a Nanaimo court on June 10.

The prosecution service announced the charge just hours after releasing information that another Vancouver Island police officer had been charged with the same crime, though prosecution service spokesperson Damienne Darby says there is no connection between the two cases.

Cpl. Phillip DiBattista of the Central Saanich Police Service was charged with driving without due care and attention in relation to a crash with a cyclist on May 21, 2024.

• Read more: Officer with the Central Saanich, B.C., police charged with driving offence

The Independent Investigations Office said in March that a man on his bicycle was going in the same direction as the officer when they were involved in a crash.

The office said that while it was later determined the man’s injuries didn’t meet the threshold for serious harm, the director of police services ordered it to continue with the investigation.

DiBattista’s first court appearance on the charge is scheduled for June 11 at the Victoria Law Courts.

With files from The Canadian Press