VPD Cruisers collide while respond to officer needs assistance call

[Donut]

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2007/03/19/3782045-sun.html

Four VPD officers hurt after cruisers collide
By IRWIN LOY, 24 HOURS

Collision investigators were brought in yesterday after two Vancouver Police squad cars crashed into each other, sending four officers to hospital.

The two cars, one of which was unmarked, collided after rushing to provide cover at another incident.

"Unfortunately, neither was aware of each others' approach and they collided at the intersection," VPD Insp. Dean Robinson said of the crash, which happened at Haro and Thurlow streets in Vancouver's West End.

There was heavy damage to the cars, but all four officers were treated and released from hospital. Now VPD investigators have to figure out how it happened.

"We know they were responding with their emergency equipment on and responding to a call for cover," Robinson said. "But at this time we are trying to determine if there's any fault."

The officers were ironically responding to a call for help at another accident.

The crashes were just a part of what police are calling a "very busy" night in the city's downtown, where St. Patrick's Day partiers and hockey-night revellers combined to give police fits.

"The police spent much of the night going from disturbance to disturbance and fight to fight on the streets," Robinson said.

Article Ends.

Global TV has just released details of the collision, nothing on the web yet...

The Cst who they were backing up was involved in a struggle with a Vancouver Fire Rescue Service member  and his familty who were beligerant and assaulted the officer after being involved in a MVC.  So now there's 5 injured thanks to the Bucket Brigade...

GO VFRS! :

DF

 

[medic45]

I saw the wreckage while I was at work, but well after the fact.  Looked pretty bad.  Sounds like everyone is doing reasonably okay fortunately.

 

[Donut]

Fair Dealings...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070320/bc_fight_070319/20070320?hub=TopStories

B.C. fireman arrested after fight with police
Updated Tue. Mar. 20 2007 9:59 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A Vancouver firefighter and his son have been charged with assaulting a police officer and obstructing other officers following a weekend confrontation downtown.


Parts of the incident were caught on a cellphone video and posted to the popular video website YouTube.


The incident occurred downtown when three officers were called in to investigate a single car crash at Seymour and Robson.


Police said two occupants of the vehicle became confrontational with the officers when they arrived at the scene. One man identified himself as an off-duty firefighter.


Const. Howard Chow of the Vancouver Police Department said a fight then broke out between the three officers and the two men, before the pair was subdued and arrested.


Meanwhile, two police cruisers called to the scene for back-up ended up crashing into each other a few blocks away. Four officers ended up in hospital.


The video clip posted on YouTube shows police officers struggling on the ground with two men.


Firefighters in full gear can be seen standing around them. At one point, a policeman runs over and appears to strike someone with a baton.


Chow confirms the YouTube video is of the Vancouver incident.


"In the image that you see, a number of firefighters are in close range -- about four or five feet away," Chow told CTV British Columbia. "Our senior management will look at to see if something could have been done differently."


Meanwhile, police are wondering why the firefighters who were standing around did nothing to assist the officers.


"The expectation is that if we go to calls and we are in need of assistance, if there's other emergency personnel that are there, will help out or render assistance," said Chow.

"We see that and we expect that from those that we work with on a regular basis."


Brass at the Vancouver Fire Department told CTV they have seen the video.


"We're all emergency services, we need to work together," Capt. Rob Jones-Cook of the Vancouver Fire Department told CTV, adding that there is "no room for ego on anybody's side in this."


Vancouver Police say 44-year-old Curtis Mason, and his 20-year-old son Grant Mason were each charged with one count of assaulting a police officer, and two counts of willful obstruction of police.


The female driver of the vehicle received a 24-hour license suspension for having alcohol in her system.


With a report from CTV British Columbia's Renu Bakshi

Article ends.

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pATjJVdalZc

 

[Inspir]

awkward  :-\

 

[gate_guard]

Just viewed the six o'clock local news here. Apparently the off duty firefigher and his son are filing a formal complaint stating police brutality and wrongful imprisonment, claiming that they were wrongfully arrested and that the VPD members instigated the incident. Reporters actually sought out independent witnesses, including the Seattle resident who shot the video, and both stated the incident began with the son pushing one of the cops. The news report also stated that the firefighter and son are contemplating civil action.

Still looking for a link...