A 43-year-old Toronto police officer is facing impaired driving charges after allegedly being clocked at 179 kilometres per hour on Highway 407, while off-duty.
Ontario Provincial Police said they spotted a westbound vehicle travelling at nearly 80 kilometres over the speed limit near Guelph Line in Burlington on Tuesday at around 1:30 p.m.
According to the OPP, the driver registered as having nearly four times the legal 0.08 limit.
Police announced charges against the driver on Wednesday.
Lionel Peters, 43, of Paris, Ont. has been charged with impaired driving, impaired – 80 plus and street racing.
In addition, his licence has been suspended for 90 days and his vehicle has been impounded for seven days.
Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray confirmed to CP24 that Peters is a constable with TPS and that he was already suspended with pay as a result of criminal charges laid against him in May 2019.
“Any internal discipline taken against the officer would be held until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings,” Gray said in an email.
According to information released by Toronto police last year, Peters is already facing charges of threatening bodily harm, extortion, breach of trust, and careless storage of a firearm.
Those charges stem from an incident on April 22, 2019 in which the accused allegedly went to a residence in full uniform, including his firearm, and threatened someone over a debt owed to a third party.
Charges were then laid following an investigation by the Professional Standards Unit.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
According to publicly available data, Peters was listed as having a salary of more than $140,000 in 2019. He has been on the force for 18 years.
