Police are investigating after a Toronto police cruiser mounted a sidewalk at a busy downtown intersection and knocked down a light standard, which narrowly missed pedestrians walking in the area.
The collision occurred at around 8 a.m. on Saturday at the intersection of Fort York Boulevard and Dan Leckie Way, near Bathurst Street.
A video of the incident, which was provided to CP24 by lawyer and cycling advocate David Shellnutt, shows an officer in a police cruiser attempting to make a right-hand turn. While making the turn, the driver of the cruiser loses control, mounts a sidewalk, and hits a light standard. Within seconds, the light standard can be seen toppling to the sidewalk just feet from where a number of pedestrians are standing.
Police confirmed that at the time of the collision, no emergency equipment was activated on the cruiser. It is not clear what caused the officer to lose control of the vehicle.
While no member of the public was injured, a female officer who was in the passenger’s seat of the vehicle sustained minor injuries, Toronto police said in an email to CP24.
“The investigation is ongoing by members of traffic services,” a spokesperson for Toronto police said.
Police say no charges have been laid against the officer at this time.
The incident comes after a dashcam video surfaced last week that showed a cruiser coming very close to striking a pedestrian while she was trying to cross the street near Dufferin and Liberty streets. The pedestrian had the right-of-way at the time of the incident, which was investigated by Toronto police.
According to a police spokesperson, the officer apologized to the pedestrian and the incident did not “meet the definition of a collision” under the Highway Traffic Act.
