KAWARTHA LAKES-A City of Kawartha Lakes Police Officer was hit during a RIDE check in Lindsay on Friday night.
Police say four members of the Kawartha Lakes Police Service were conducting a RIDE check point on Little Britain Road at Bridle Road in Lindsay. Shortly after officers arrived at the scene to begin the RIDE check, a west bound truck pulling a trailer collided with a parked, unoccupied police vehicle just before 8pm. The collision caused the police vehicle to strike Sgt. Dave Murtha who was standing at the roadway.
“This is what happens when people don’t slow down and move to the left” said a tweet from the KLPS twitter account. Murtha was taken to Ross Memorial Hospital but not seriously injured. He has since been released.
The Slow Down, Move Over law requires that If you see an emergency vehicle or a tow truck with its amber lights flashing stopped facing the same direction you are going, slow down and pass with caution. If the road has two or more lanes, you must leave a lane of space between you and the emergency vehicle, if you can do so safely.
Murtha is the communications officer for the KLPS. He had been tweeting from the RIDE check throughout the night. Just a few hours before the incident Murtha had tweeted that a vehicle had done a U turn attempting to go around the RIDE check. Officers caught up with the driver who was sober but did not have insurance for his vehicle.
The driver of the truck that collided with the police vehicle was not injured. The collision investigation is ongoing.
