Two seriously injured police officers await surgery after they were hit by a driver fleeing a RIDE checkpoint at Claremont Access Friday night.
Hamilton Police Chief Frank Bergen said Saturday investigators are still looking for the hit-and-run suspect who later abandoned a red pickup truck, the same vehicle that struck a police squad car in an earlier separate incident. that day.
“This is a stark reminder about the dangers of our work,” Bergen said in an interview, adding that both officers suffered concussions, cuts and “multiple” broken bones. “It’s a new understanding of what the impact of being a police officer is … but the reality is that (our) officers continue to come to work, they continue to serve our city and we thank them for that.”
Bergen said police had been talking to motorists as part of the impaired driving controls on New Year’s Eve in the ascending lanes of the cliff access around 11 p.m. when a waiting van suddenly slipped out of line and he broke through the checkpoint, hitting two officers.
Both officers were unconscious.
Police did not identify the officers, but Bergen said they stayed with the couple at Hamilton General Hospital until around 2 am and that they were “comfortable” as they awaited an update on the surgery needed to repair broken bones.
“We hope that recovery is on the horizon, but they have been through some difficult hours,” he said.
Police are searching for the hit-and-run suspect who left a Hyundai Santa Fe in the Inverness Avenue and Belair Drive area. Investigators were scouring the neighborhood for witnesses or video footage this morning and urged area residents to verify the security camera footage around 11 p.m.
Police were already searching for that same SUV, a rental in the Toronto area, after a driver rammed into a police patrol car to flee an attempted arrest earlier that day.
In that case, officers responded to reports of a driver asleep at the wheel with a bong on his lap in the Fennell Avenue and Hoover Crescent area. Police tried to immobilize the vehicle, but the driver woke up and rammed the cruiser before speeding away.
Bergen said it was too early to say whether the same driver was involved in both incidents.
No other information about the suspect has yet been released, but Bergen urged the driver to find a lawyer and contact the police. “We will be stubborn in this investigation.”
Police are urging anyone with information about the RIDE incident, including footage from security cameras, to call investigators at (905) 546-4925.
Reference-www.thestar.com