Officer still struggling to process Ottawa bus-train crash 1 year later
Warning: Video contains footage of the crash scene, which some viewers may find disturbing
The first Ottawa police officer who arrived at the scene of last year's bus-train crash tells CBC News he's still trying to process what he saw.
Const. Matthew Caldwell has been with Ottawa police for eight years.
He was on patrol in Barrhaven the morning of Sept. 18, 2013 — exactly one year ago today — and was the first police officer to arrive at the site of the crash between an OC Transpo bus and a Via Rail passenger train.
Six people were killed.
"The first day, it was still very surreal. I don't think it had sunk in yet," Caldwell said.
It finally did sink in at his daughter's birthday party.
"There were just too many people and it was too chaotic and it was too busy, and that was it. I think that was the exact moment where it kind of hit me. I was like, you know what? This is going to stick with me for a while."