London police say the Special Investigations Unit has been notified after a suspect reported an injury amid a dramatic investigation into impaired driving.
Police say they received multiple 911 calls just before noon on Sunday about a suspected impaired driver.
One citizen said they saw a white four-door Volkswagen “driving erratically in the southwest end of the city,” while another saw the driver asleep at the wheel while stopped at a traffic light, police say.
In that incident, police say the citizen approached the vehicle and knocked on its window.
When the driver woke up, police say they accelerated through a red light at an intersection, continued driving erratically, and almost hit a cyclist in the area of Wharncliffe Road and Baseline Road West.
Officers reportedly found the suspect vehicle stopped on the side of Tecumseh Avenue West facing the wrong way, with the driver asleep at the wheel of the running vehicle.
The driver was arrested and officers searching the vehicle found a loaded .40 calibre handgun, Oxytocin and liquid codeine, police add.
Police also say the suspect gave officers a fake name but police were able to determine his actual identity and, as a result, discovered that he was prohibited driver.
“The suspect advised police that he had sustained an injury, and was transported to hospital and later released,” police say.
The suspect, a 22-year-old London man, is facing 19 counts including impaired operation, dangerous operation, two counts of possession of firearm or ammunition contrary to prohibition order, and two counts of breach of probation.
London police add that three officers “sustained minor injuries in the course of the arrest” and police cruisers sustained an estimated $150 in damage.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates incidents involving police that have resulted in death, serious injury or alleged sexual assault.