A couple of weeks after a woman was hit by a car while crossing an intersection in north-end Toronto, she says she’s disappointed with how her case has been handled by Toronto police and with how long it took for officers to respond to the scene.
Alana Fekete told Global News she was attempting to cross Yonge Street, near Sheppard Avenue, a couple of weeks ago when a vehicle turning onto Yonge Street hit her — an incident that appears to have been captured by a dash camera.
“[I] felt really vulnerable, kind of just being in front of the car and seeing it right there.”
Fekete said the driver didn’t want to get out of their vehicle, so her fiance became upset and started yelling at the driver. The video appears to show him lunging at the man behind the wheel before the situation escalated.
WATCH: Video appears to show woman getting struck by car in north-end Toronto
After a bystander called 911 for Fekete, she said she was asked if she needed an ambulance.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t need an ambulance right now, I just need the police,’ and so they assured me that somebody would be on the way to help,” Fekete said.
“I waited about 50 minutes … we had to call 911 four times.”
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As she waited for police to respond, Fekete said her father drove down from Thornhill and went to the closest police station.
“The police officers at 32 Division told my dad that him showing up at the police station wasn’t going to make a car show up to the scene any faster, and that was it,” she said.
Fekete said eventually, two marked police cars drove by the scene. The first, she said, went to a nearby plaza while another officer from a downtown division happened to be in the area and responding to another call that was eventually cancelled.
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“When he showed up, he told us that we were actually lucky to have only waited 50 minutes,” Fekete said, adding she was told she could have waited an additional hour if he wasn’t available.
“I felt extremely helpless and the police are kind of the people you turn to, and you think that they’re here to protect and serve you, and so in my mind, I’m expecting the police to just show up right away,” she said.
“To have to wait, and wait, and call, and wait and call was really disheartening and disappointing.”
News of this incident comes after the Toronto Police Association (TPA), the union representing officers, launched a “Stop the Toronto Police Cuts” campaign in January targeting the mayor and senior police service officials. The union said they’re to blame for a “crisis” in staffing and response times amid a large modernization initiative.
In August, an agreement was struck between the union, Toronto police and the Toronto Police Services Board to hire 80 new officers despite a hiring freeze, and review staffing levels for communications operators and divisional staff.
Meanwhile, Fekete said she has attempted to have a proper conversation with a detective but hasn’t been able to do so.
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TPA President Mike McCormack told Global News in a statement on Tuesday the situation isn’t unusual.
“We are very concerned about this woman’s wait time. Unfortunately, these issues are not uncommon and this is not the level of service that our members wish to provide,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for the Toronto police traffic services unit called the incident “concerning,” and acknowledged it will be looked at.
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