Archives for April 2006

The Toronto Sun posted the following story earlier this week:

A Northumberland OPP officer responding to an emergency early yesterday morning ended up on the receiving end of a rescue mission after he plunged his cruiser into Rice Lake.

Const. Kirt Finlayson was heading to a call for a distraught woman screaming in the Rice Lake area, north of Cobourg, just after midnight.

“A short time later our communications centre received a call from one of our units stating he had run into the lake with his car and was having trouble getting out of the vehicle,” said Sgt. Steve Grosjean.

The frantic call over the police radio — “I’m in the water and I can’t get out of my car” — were the only words heard over the radio from Finlayson after he drove off a boat launch at the end of County Rd. 18 and into the lake.

“It was very scary,” Grosjean said. “If you hear that someone has put their car in the water, they’re trapped and they can’t get out, it’s not a good feeling.”

Skid marks about 20 metres long led responding officers — Grosjean and Const. Kevin Finley — to the cruiser, which was about 40 metres offshore with its emergency lights still flashing under water.

Finlayson, who’s not a strong swimmer, was on the roof of the car, having escaped from the cruiser through a window. But even on the roof, he was chest-deep in water.

Grosjean and Finley pulled an aluminum boat from a nearby resort and broke two planks of wood to use as oars to paddle out to Finlayson.

Finlayson was treated at Northumberland Hills Hospital and released but Grosjean said he’s lucky to be alive.

“Anyone whose vehicle goes into a body of water in the dark at this time of year is lucky,” Grosjean said. “But the officer kept his cool and didn’t panic and I think that goes a long way.”

The incident is under investigation.

Ya think?

You’ve gotta ask…how fast was this knob going? 20 meters of skid marks?! 40 meters out into the lake! Off a boat launching ramp! Did he fail advanced driver’s ed?

Obvously the flashing lights were not made by Lucas!