CityNews Toronto — Michael Talbot
York Regional Police (YRP) have released body-cam footage showing one of its officers sneaking up on a motorcyclist who allegedly fled an accident scene and tackling him. “You could say our officers are happy the NFL is back,” YRP chipped in a social media post.
The incident took place on August 9, at around 1:42 p.m. “After being involved in a collision a motorcycle rider was told to return to the scene and exchange information,” YRP wrote in the post. “He refused to stop and left the area, despite being advised he was under arrest.”
The video shows an officer spot the motorcyclist parked on the shoulder near 16th Avenue and Mutual Street. “It looks like he’s trying to taunt us,” an officer tells dispatch in the video. While the motorcyclist sits on his vehicle, he doesn’t notice that the officer has parked nearby and exited his cruiser.
The officer crouches and creeps towards the suspect, eventually pouncing on him and taking him to the ground where he’s placed in handcuffs. YRP called it a “beautiful form tackle with a blindside approach.” “Rule number 1 of football: keep your head on a swivel,” the cheeky post adds.
Later in the video an officer displays the man’s personalized licence plate that read “Run This.” YRP said they did run the plate and it was allegedly unauthorized.
The suspect has subsequently been charged with failure to stop after accident, flight from police officer, drive no insurance, accident, fail to disclose insurance particulars, and permit/use unauthorized plate.
Source: toronto.citynews.ca
