Photos and video showing the aftermath of a weekend crash involving a Calgary police car have been shared over 1,200 times in less than two days—prompting police to answer questions on the nature of the incident. Police allege the driver made an illegal U-turn and said he’s been charged accordingly.
In a Facebook post that’s since been deleted, Harood Ismailzada wrote he was “involved in a horrible car accident” Saturday at around 1 a.m.
“I’m being blamed for everything and if anyone was there and saw anything at the scene please go to the Saddletowne police station and write a statement.”
Calgary police said two cars of officers were involved in a separate pursuit, driving down 80 Avenue N.E. at the time. CPS Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey said surveillance video from a nearby Tim Hortons shows one police car go by, then a second approaches.
“Just as he’s coming along, there’s a civilian vehicle that’s going the other way that just starts to complete a U-turn,” Stacey said, referring to Ismailzada’s car. “As he’s completing a U-turn, that’s exactly when the police car came along, hit the other vehicle, sent a whole bunch of people to hospital, including the officer. Luckily they’re all OK.
“While our officers did not have their emergency lights on yet because they had not caught up to this [other] vehicle, they did have their headlights on and they were exceeding the speed limit.”
Stacey said police charged the driver with completing an illegal U-turn, which carries a $155 ticket. Police allege the driver did the U-turn in front of the police car that had the right of way.
Stacey said any police car crash results in an internal investigation including an evaluation of liability, safety issues and possible training issues.
“We’re alleging the driver of the civilian vehicle was at fault in this case. We’ve charged him accordingly. He has the option to plead not guilty in court and we would be there to present the evidence. There would be a number of witness presentations as well as the evidence we’ve gleaned so far.
“I can’t change what people’s opinion might be [on social media] but the bottom line is we investigated it from an objective perspective and this is the result we came up with.”
Ismailzada declined to a Wednesday interview request from Global News, as he is waiting to consult with a lawyer.
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