Gary's security crashes in chase

ONE of the Police Commissioner’s security detail was involved in an accident along Western Main Road, Glencoe this afternoon.

Newsday spoke with Commissioner Gary Griffith who said his officers received information about a car speeding erratically and were in pursuit when the police SUV was hit by a car, resulting in an accident damaging three cars including his security detail.

Griffith explained that while pursuing the speeding car, his security detail “was clipped” by a driver heading in the opposite direction and crashed into another car before stopping. The driver in the security detail was chasing a car into Carenage at the time of the accident, at about 1.30 pm. The driver of the speeding car never stopped.

The commissioner has recently taken a no-nonsense approach to officers damaging state vehicles and have banned some from driving as a result, including in cases were there were fatalities.

Griffith said that in this case, his officers were in pursuit of a suspicious driver and this was not the same as other instances when the police were not responding to an emergency call. He said an officer can go above the speed limit when pursuing a suspect, as was the case today, with the use of the swivel lights and sirens. He dismissed the notion of banning the driver in his security detail in today's accident.

A passing driver who posted a video of the accident scene on social media suggested the security detail was reckless. In the video, the SUV is facing west pinned to a Nissan B-14 while another car is seen smashed on the driver’s side a short distance. Western Division head Snr Supt Garth Nelson said he had no information on the incident when contacted.