THUNDER BAY — Two men are facing a long list of charges after a traffic stop that began on Highway 61 on Wednesday afternoon ended with a driver fighting with officers and running on foot before being arrested on Arthur Street. A 29-year-old Marathon man is charged with impaired operation, resisting a peace officer, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and three counts of failing to comply with a release order, among other offences, while a 42-year-old man from Fort William First Nation is charged with possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Officers from the Thunder Bay detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police attempted the stop shortly before 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. Police say the stop was prompted by what officers saw inside the moving vehicle on Highway 61: the front passenger was actively consuming drugs, and the rear passenger was not wearing a seat belt. The vehicle was pulled over on Arthur Street, and it was there that the stop turned into an arrest. Police say the driver became combative while being arrested for impaired operation and then fled on foot. The pursuit was brief, and the driver was arrested nearby.
Luke Simmans, 29, of Marathon, is charged with operation while impaired by alcohol and drugs, resisting a peace officer, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and personation with intent to avoid arrest, prosecution or obstruct justice. He is also charged with three counts of failing to comply with a release order, which means police allege he was already bound by court conditions when the stop took place. The remaining charges against him are provincial: driving while under suspension, failing to surrender a permit for a motor vehicle, and failing to surrender an insurance card.
Aaron Boucher, 42, of Fort William First Nation, is charged under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act with possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking, identified by police as cocaine. He is also charged under the Highway Traffic Act as a passenger who failed to properly wear a seat belt, the observation that, along with the alleged drug use in the front seat, first drew the officers’ attention to the vehicle.
The two men now face very different court schedules. Simmans was set to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Thunder Bay on Thursday, October 29, the day after the stop. Boucher is scheduled to appear in the same court on Wednesday, January 20, 2027. None of the charges against either man has been tested in court, and both are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Highway 61 is the main route south out of Thunder Bay, running from the city to the Canada–United States border at Pigeon River. It carries a mix of local commuters, cross-border traffic and commercial vehicles, and it is a corridor the Thunder Bay OPP patrol regularly. Arthur Street, where the vehicle was ultimately stopped, is one of the city’s busiest east–west arterials, and a foot pursuit and arrest in the early afternoon took place in an area with steady traffic and businesses on both sides of the road.
The impaired-operation charge is the allegation at the centre of the file, and it is what police say turned a seat-belt and drug-observation stop into an arrest in the first place. Impaired driving charges involving both alcohol and drugs have become a regular part of OPP enforcement reporting across Northwestern Ontario, and detachments have repeatedly tied them to their calls for the public to plan for a sober ride. Police have not released any further detail about the alleged impairment in this case, the weapon referenced in the possession charge, or the quantity of cocaine alleged in the trafficking charge against Boucher.
The three release-order counts against Simmans are likely to matter as the case moves forward. A release order is the set of conditions a court imposes when an accused person is allowed out of custody, and breaching those conditions is a separate criminal offence on its own. When an accused person is charged with new offences while already on release, courts often take a harder line on whether that person is released again, and the question of custody is typically addressed at the first appearance.
The OPP says it remains committed to public safety across Ontario and encourages members of the public to report suspicious activity by calling 911 in an emergency or the OPP non-emergency line at 1-888-310-1122. The investigation, as described in the release, is complete to the point of charges being laid, but both cases now rest with the courts, where first appearances, disclosure and eventual trial or resolution dates will determine what happens next for the two accused.
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