Video captures Toronto police vehicle running over suspect, arresting officer on weekend
CBC
A dramatic video circulating on social media shows a Toronto police vehicle "inadvertently" running over a female suspect and an officer during an arrest on the weekend.
Toronto police said in an email on Monday that they are aware of the video and reviewing the circumstances of the arrest.
At about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, police said they responded to reports of a woman with knives, allegedly damaging vehicles, in a plaza parking lot in the area of Jane Street and Alliance Avenue, south of Eglinton Avenue W.
Police said the woman, 23, was arrested and charged with one count of weapons dangerous and four counts of mischief under. She appeared in court on Sunday.
In the video posted by 6ixBuzzTV on X, formerly Twitter, the suspect is struck with a conducted energy weapon. She screams and falls to the ground. A few officers come running over and one officer hops out of a police vehicle. That vehicle rolls forward, colliding with the suspect and an arresting officer.
The officer then jumps back into the vehicle to regain control of it and it rushes forward. The suspect can be heard screaming and one officer can be heard yelling for the driver to backup. The vehicle runs over the suspect's legs again. Other officers restrain the suspect, telling her to stop resisting.
Neither the suspect nor the officer was seriously injured, according to police.
Steven Summerville, a retired staff sergeant with the Toronto police, said in an interview on Monday that he thinks the officer forgot to put the vehicle in park in the heat of the moment and it wasn't a deliberate act.
Summerville, who has taught police vehicle operations, said he thinks when the officer attended the call, his heart rate and blood pressure might have gone up, and with his focus on getting out of the vehicle to help, he overlooked putting the vehicle in park.
"I'm not going to suggest for a second there was intent behind this. But was it careless? Sure," Summerville said.
"Before we point fingers and make accusations, we're all human beings, police officers included."
Summerville said people do make mistakes in critical moments.
"Probably the officer would never do something like that again," he said.
Stephanie Sayer, spokesperson for the police, said in an email on Monday that police are aware of the video showing the incident in the Jane Park Plaza parking lot.
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