Essex County OPP officer found guilty of dangerous driving causing bodily harm

[Wendell]

Const. Jamie Porto, 34, was found guilty for slamming into a vehicle at high speed while responding to another car crash on Oct. 24, 2014. Porto was driving through St. Joachim on County Road 42 in the westbound lane when he struck a Volkswagen Passat that was turning south onto County Road 31. Justice Bruce Thomas said the Passat had its left signal light on. Porto hit the Volkswagen when he moved into the left lane just as it was turning. The officer, in a 50 km/h zone, was travelling 178 km/h four seconds before impact. Thomas said Porto would have passed through a construction zone and a school zone going that fast. The cruiser’s data recorder revealed that Porto did not brake or turn the wheel to avoid a crash until half a second before impact. Thomas said Thursday that Porto’s cruiser was doing 133 km/h when it hit the Passat. The impact sent the Volkswagen spinning through the intersection, taking out a pump at a gas station on the corner. Porto’s unmarked cruiser went skidding across a lawn into a house, destroying the front porch. Several officers including Porto testified they were responding to an accident where they thought a woman was on fire. Other officers also testified that they saw nothing wrong with how fast Porto was driving. “I disagree,” Thomas said. He said Porto “should have foreseen danger” travelling through the “sleepy village” at 3½ times the speed limit. He said a reasonable police officer would have slowed down and stayed in his lane until he was sure where the Passat was going. Regardless of the crash, Thomas said he would have found Porto guilty of dangerous driving for the way the cruiser “rocketed” past construction and school zones. “He was an articulate, straightforward witness,” Thomas said of the officer. “His evidence, however, does not assist him.” Porto, clearly stunned, sat alone at the defence table with his face in his hands after hearing the verdict. He left the courthouse without commenting.
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-ne...ng-bodily-harm

[TR675]

Huh. Well, I guess I'm not down with OPP.

In an effort to make this post something more than my usual garbage: I can't say I disagree with the result. Blinking lights and a siren aren't a get out of jail free card for reckless driving. It's why ambulances don't have NO2 systems. It's important to get to the scene of an emergency quickly but also safely.

[txdpd]

“He is devastated,” said Scott. “It’s difficult in today’s age when it’s so easy to bash the police. It seems when they’re trying to do the right thing and in their mind save somebody’s life, that now they’re second-guessed on everything they do. God help us.”

Screw those guys, there's nothing reasonable about driving 110mph in a 30mph zone. There are a lot of good cops that get thrown under the bus for doing their jobs correctly. Whining and acting like a victim when some idiot is driving like an idiot, only hurts good cops down the road.

[BN]

Lights and siren do NOT give you the right of way. That has been taught for 30 years that I know about.

[peterb]

Lights and siren do NOT give you the right of way. That has been taught for 30 years that I know about.

That's what we were taught for driving fire/rescue apparatus. Yes, we can run lights and sirens and exceed the posted speed limit, but speeds and driving behavior still have to be "reasonable" for the conditions. And we are liable for any damage we cause.

[Default.mp3]

That's what we were taught for driving fire/rescue apparatus. Yes, we can run lights and sirens and exceed the posted speed limit, but speeds and driving behavior still have to be "reasonable" for the conditions. And we are liable for any damage we cause.

Red lights are to be treated as stop signs, and not simply ran through, when running emergency, according to our SOGs. Though obviously not everyone follows that...