TORONTO -- Video released by Toronto-area police shows the moment a 34-year-old father was arrested for impaired driving after he was spotted allegedly "swerving like crazy" with his four-year-old daughter in the backseat.
“Hi, I want to report a drunk driver. He went in the middle of the intersection during a red light and was swerving like crazy,” a woman is heard telling an 911 operator at the beginning of the video, which was released by York Regional Police on Thursday.
The operator then thanks the concerned citizen for calling and says “we’ll have somebody get over there.”
The video, which was captured on Sunday just after 10:30 p.m., then cuts to show an officer driving in Newmarket, Ont. near Yonge Street and St. John’s Sideroad, saying he has spotted the vehicle “swerving on the road.”
“The driver is taking off. I’m going 60, I never did light him up,” the officer says.
The officer then activates his siren in an attempt to pull over the vehicle, but the driver allegedly speeds off.
“I’ll pull over to the side of the road and turn my lights off,” he says before losing sight of the vehicle.
The video then cuts to an officer asking a pedestrian in the area if they had seen anything.
Pedestrian: “We just saw a car turn into that first cul-de-sac.”
Officer: “Was it a pickup truck?”
Pedestrian: “Yes.”
Officer: “All right, thank you.”
Officers were then able to contain the vehicle in the area of Lenarthur Court and the video shows the arrest take place outside of a home.
Officer: “OK, I want you to understand something right now. I’m investigating an impaired driving case right now. Did you not see me turn my equipment on back there?”
Driver: “Yeah, you did.”
Officer: “How much have you had to drink tonight, sir?”
Driver: “Uhhh… nothing.”
Officer: “Yeah. OK. Sir, you’re going to be under arrest, OK? Turn around. Turn around for me. Put your hands behind your back.”
The driver then tells the officer there is a child “over there.” An officer then tells the driver “we’ll look after the kid, don’t worry.”
A four-year-old girl was inside the vehicle, police said, and was taken into a cruiser while the arrest was being made.
“She’s scared,” the officer says towards the end of the video.
Police said no one, including the driver’s young daughter, was physically injured.
The child was picked up at the scene by her mother after police contacted the Children’s Aid Society.
The driver has been charged with impaired driving, failure or refusal to comply with breath demand and flight from a peace officer.
