The wreckage of an SD&G O.P.P. police cruiser sits at the Long Sault, Ont. detachment on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. The officer and a citizen, in the cruiser at the time, were hit from behind on Highway 401 during a freezing rain storm the day before. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
SD&G – Local O.P.P. are – again – imploring people to slow down and drive to the weather conditions after one of their police cruisers was hit Wednesday.
It’s the second time this month a police car has been hit on Highway 401 in SD&G in the height of bad weather.
A police officer is recovering after his cruiser was struck from behind on a section of the freeway, west of Cornwall.
SD&G O.P.P. said the police car was hit around 11 p.m. yesterday (Feb. 24) as it was parked on the side of Highway 401 in South Stormont while the officer investigated another crash.
The wreckage of an SD&G O.P.P. police cruiser sits at the Long Sault, Ont. detachment on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. The officer and a citizen, in the cruiser at the time, were hit from behind on Highway 401 during a freezing rain storm the day before. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
Const. Joel Doiron told Cornwall Newswatch a person from the vehicle that crashed was in the police cruiser with the officer when it was hit.
Fortunately, both only have minor injuries.
The wreckage of the police car is a chilling reminder of the dangers first responders are facing on Canada’s busiest highway in SD&G and Eastern Ontario.
The region is also left with one less community safety resource as the detachment awaits a replacement from O.P.P. headquarters in Orillia, Ont.
Doiron couldn’t say whether charges had been laid as police were still investigating and were sorting through the mountain of paperwork after 72 weather-related calls in SD&G – mostly for collisions, vehicles in ditches and downed hydro wires and trees.
Click the thumbnails below to see more pictures of the damage to the police cruiser.
The wreckage of an SD&G O.P.P. police cruiser sits at the Long Sault, Ont. detachment on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. The officer and a citizen, in the cruiser at the time, were hit from behind on Highway 401 during a freezing rain storm the day before. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
The wreckage of an SD&G O.P.P. police cruiser sits at the Long Sault, Ont. detachment on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. The officer and a citizen, in the cruiser at the time, were hit from behind on Highway 401 during a freezing rain storm the day before. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
The wreckage of an SD&G O.P.P. police cruiser sits at the Long Sault, Ont. detachment on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. The officer and a citizen, in the cruiser at the time, were hit from behind on Highway 401 during a freezing rain storm the day before. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
