3 taken to hospital after crash involving Winnipeg police car on Main Street

Three people — two officers and a civilian — have been taken to hospital after a crash Saturday on Main Street involving a Winnipeg Police Service cruiser and another vehicle, which left the cruiser sticking out of a building.

As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, traffic was still blocked on Main Street south of Inkster Boulevard. 

The back of a Winnipeg police car could be seen sticking out of the main entrance of Bargains Galore, at 1428 Main St., early Saturday afternoon. A red Toyota Corolla sat metres away, with airbags deployed and its passenger door appearing to have been torn off.

Jagmeet Singh Gill was one of four employees working in the store when the police car crashed through the front door.

He said he and another employee had been standing in the same spot the car ended up a moment before the crash.

"We were moving stuff from the side where the car hit… we'd just moved over from there over a minute ago," he said."It was too scary and I didn't understand what had happened."

Singh Gill says the pair came within a metre of being hit.

All four employees and a customer, who was in the store at the time, walked away unscathed, said Singh Gill.

Singh Gill said the employees had to move an ice cream cooler out of the way to free the officers from the car, and one of the officers appeared to have a cut on his arm, although both walked away from the crash.

He says it's too soon to say exactly how much damage the crash caused.

Police spokesperson Const. Jay Murray told CBC News the police cruiser was responding to a "high-priority" call, with lights and sirens on, when it collided with the Toyota near the intersection of Main and Polson Avenue in Winnipeg's North End. 

"The information that I have is that they were responding to the report of a male that was armed with a knife and was threatening an [officer]."

A police source has told CBC News police are investigating whether the Toyota turned in front of the police cruiser.

Sometimes [other drivers] hit the brakes, sometimes they pull to the left and stop, sometimes they pull to the right and stop.- Const. Jay Murray, Winnipeg police spokesperson

Murray said an occupant of the Toyota — which was not the subject of the call police were responding to — was transported to hospital in unstable condition along with two officers, who were in stable condition. 

Murray said it appears that nobody in the building was hurt. 

"This is a reminder of the risks that we sometimes face when we respond to these calls," Murray said. 

Murray said that given that officers were responding to a call involving another officer in danger, "emotions and stress are going to be high," but officers are "trained still to drive within our means, and sometimes when we're going [with] lights and sirens [on], people tend to panic and not know what to do."

Murray said he's seen first-hand the unpredictability of other drivers when they see a police cruiser approaching quickly.

"Sometimes they hit the brakes, sometimes they pull to the left and stop, sometimes they pull to the right and stop — which is the correct manoeuvre," Murray said. 

"But at the same time mistakes happen, both on our part and the part of civilians," Murray said, adding that everyone is very fortunate that modern cars — both police cruisers and civilian vehicles — are so safe.

Murray said there are "still a lot of questions to be asked, but most importantly it sounds like everyone's going to be OK." 

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the crash, and who has not yet spoken to police, to call investigators at 204-986-6271.