OPP officer recovering, London man charged with multiple offences after traffic stop gone wrong

An OPP officer is recovering in hospital and a London man has been charged after a traffic stop went wrong this past weekend. CTV's Brent Lale reports.

As an Elgin County OPP officer recovers in hospital, well wishes are pouring in from police departments around the province.

The officer was injured when a traffic stop went wrong near St. Thomas on Sunday.

Police say a member of the Highway Safety Division saw a suspicious vehicle travelling on Highway 3 in Elgin County, at which time a traffic stop was initiated.

During the investigation, the driver of the vehicle fled the scene, striking the officer with a truck and trailer towing a boat.

“When you do a traffic stop and, there’s no such thing as routine,” says Scott Mills of the Ontario Provincial Police Association.

“You always have to take the proper precautions especially when you are policing in a rural area. You’re pretty cognizant that backup could be a distance away. The quicker you can call for backup when you think something’s going to go wrong, even though if you don’t know that it’s going to go wrong, the better it is.”

Elgin County OPP and Medavie-Elgin EMS were dispatched to the scene to assist and the officer was transported to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the suspect vehicle was later arrested in Shedden, Ont. with witnesses saying there were close to a dozen OPP officers and the person was taken custody in handcuffs.

The incident happened on Highway 3 near the Burwell Rd. bridge and the road was closed from Centennial Ave to First Ave for the afternoon.

Mills, who was a police officer for 30 years in Toronto and Peel Region says officers risk their lives everyday to protect.

“Personally, I’ve stopped vehicles where they’ve had a loaded handgun under the seat and one thing leads to another and it happens pretty quickly,” says Mills.

“When you’re in this situation, it can be quite frightening for a police officer and it just goes to show that the police officers that are out there, serving and protecting in the province of Ontario, they go above and beyond. They’re always at risk. They’re always in a potentially dangerous situation,” he added.

A 40 year old from London is facing several charges.

• Dangerous Operation causing bodily harm
• Flight from peace officer
• Resist Peace Officer
• Assault with intent to resist arrest
• Personation with intent to avoid arrest, prosecution or obstruct justice (Identity fraud)
• Failure to comply with release order - other than to attend court (two counts)