Saturday, August 15, 2009

Undercover Officer Charged with Street Racing

An undercover Durham Regional Police officer had his cover blown Wednesday by an unlikely suspect: the Ontario Provincial Police, who charged him with street racing and impounded his unmarked police car.

The incident was No. 3 in a curious summer string of embarrassing driving-related arrests involving GTA emergency personnel. In late June, a Toronto deputy fire chief was charged with street racing. In July, a Toronto paramedic and union leader was charged with stealing an ambulance.

The 34-year-old male Durham officer, a 10-year veteran of the force, was accused of driving 150 km/h or faster on Highway 115 in Peterborough County on Wednesday afternoon. The OPP would not release his name for fear the disclosure would compromise his work.

In addition to losing his police car, the officer's driver's licence was suspended for a week. He could face professional discipline, depending on the facts and outcome of the case, said Durham Insp. Bruce Townley. He said the incident was "extremely disappointing," given the force's focus on road safety.

Toronto deputy fire chief Daryl Fuglerud's driver's licence was suspended and his department SUV was impounded when he was charged for driving faster than 150 km/h on June 26. He said he was late for a funeral.

Glenn Fontaine, a paramedic and the ambulance unit chair of Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, was charged with theft and mischief after an ambulance with a union poster on it was abandoned with its lights flashing outside city hall early on June 22, the first day of the city workers' strike.

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