Police offer new details in wild chase, crash that shut major London, Ontario street
A man became 'unresponsive' following a wild police chase that started north of London and ended in a busy part of the city's Masonville neighbourhood, Ontario Provincial Police say.
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It was about 9 p.m. Saturday when Middlesex OPP began pursuing a driver from Butler Street in Lucan-Biddulph, police said, following a disturbance there. Two cruisers were struck, police said, adding the chase continued to Richmond Street near Masonville mall.
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On Sunday, the police probe focused on a car that appeared to have collided with an OPP cruiser on Richmond Street near Jacksway Crescent. The street was shut down throughout the day for the investigation, which involves Ontario's police watchdog.
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'During the interaction with police, the male became unresponsive. Officers administered first aid and the male was transported to a local hospital,' Middlesex OPP said in a Sunday statement that didn't detail his condition.
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One neighbourhood resident told The Free Press they saw the driver of the car hit with a police Taser and then taken away in an ambulance.
'He was shouting, screaming and police told the man to get on the ground, to not move and they Tasered him,' Ahmed Mazed said, referencing the brand name of a stun gun used by police to avoid firing bullets.
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'We were surprised. This is usually a quiet area. Nothing happens.'
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The provincial police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, investigates all cases of serious injury, death, gunfire and allegations of sexual assault involving police. SIU officials did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
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Video posted on social media showed nearly a dozen police vehicles, both London police and the OPP, along with an ambulance on the scene late Saturday night.
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Throughout Sunday, Richmond Street was closed between Sunnyside Drive and Hillview Boulevard, just south of Masonville mall. A damaged Ford Fusion on the boulevard on the west side of Richmond Street appeared to have been boxed in by an OPP cruiser that was also damaged.
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An officer took photographs of the car that had its hood popped and its driver-side door open, while another officer took measurements of the scene where more than a dozen evidence markers were placed on the road.
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At about 4:30 p.m., London police announced the street was re-opened to traffic in both directions.
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Shortly after 11:15 a.m. Saturday, London police say officers were called to the area just north of the Cheapside Street entrance to Fanshawe College and forced homeowners on Irving Place to leave their homes.
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