Toronto city councillor Jon Burnside was spending his day canvassing through North Leaside Wednesday when he says he had a close call with an alleged impaired driver.
“I had just knocked on somebody’s door and I was walking, maybe even jogging a bit, down the path. I just stepped on the sidewalk when I heard a bang,” he explains.
Burnside said he turned to his left where he said he saw a black pick-up truck barreling towards him.
He pointed to the sidewalk showing Global News skid marks which remain visible two days after the incident.
“I kind of jumped and fell back into the bush, yelled at my volunteer who was on the sidewalk here,” he described.
“She jumped out of the way and, as you can see, the pick-up truck went skidding by and stopped right at the end of the curb.”
Burnside, who was previously a Toronto police officer, said he jumped into action.
“I could smell the alcohol on his breath, I used to be a police officer and I used to arrest impaired drivers so I knew what I was dealing with. I said you better stay here.”
But he said the driver drove off once he dialed 911.
“So I dial 911, took them about ten to fifteen seconds to answer, not bad by today’s standards, and then we waited,” he said.
“I know the police do take impaired drivers seriously. However we’re talking the dog days of summer, we’re talking 3:30 in the afternoon when it’s relatively quiet.”
Burnside suspects a shortage of manpower at the Toronto Police Service could be responsible for the slow response to his emergency, which he said he found particularly concerning.
“They don’t have bodies to actually deal with serious issues. The danger is that he does it again and actually hits somebody who doesn’t even know that he’s coming.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Toronto Police noted “the call was dispatched but no officers from 53 Division were immediately available to attend however, officers arrived on scene in 90 minutes.”
“We share the concerns that have been brought forward by the Councillor and we will be looking into this call to see if there’s anything that could have been done differently,” the statement added.