A mistrial has been declared in the trial of a York police officer accused of striking and killing a pedestrian because the jury was unable to reach a decision.

“With sincere apologies, we have reached a stalemate,” the jury said in a letter to the judge Wednesday morning. They had been sequestered for almost two days but said they were deadlocked after the first day.

A new trial will now have to be scheduled.

Const. Remo Romano, 44, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death in connection with the incident.

Natasha Carla Abogado, 18, who was on her way home from work, was crossing St. Clair Avenue East, near Warden Avenue, around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 12, 2014, when she was struck by the truck. She died at the scene.

The court heard that while Romano was on duty, his vehicle was unmarked.

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Romano, who had been a police officer for 13 years, was part of a surveillance team gathering intelligence on commercial break-ins involving the theft of perfume. The team was following a white van and Romano was falling behind the target vehicle.

The Highway Traffic Act exempts police officers from following the speed limit while on duty. The Crown argued that Romano was driving at more than twice the legal limit, at 115 km/h, in what was a “scene out of the movie ‘The Fast and The Furious.'”

There “was no lawful explanation” for “barreling into a dark residential area,” Crown Philip Perlmutter argued.

The defence countered that while Romano was speeding, he was not driving dangerously. He did not run red lights and he was not cutting in and out of traffic. The defence argued that Abogado was jaywalking.

“The defence position is that this was a tragic accident. Unfortunately, pedestrian fatalities happen all too often on our streets. But an accident is just that: an accident.”

If found guilty, Romano could face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

With files from Marianne Boucher

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