Incident with Toronto Police caught on video leaves pedestrian shaken

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Was she “hit” by the vehicle turning left while she strolled through the crosswalk and did the driver “run”?

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It has been ruled technically neither but it’s still become a viral conversation.

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You be the judge.

It was one of those car and pedestrian close calls at an intersection where you wish the police would be on scene to witness. Well, they were. Not in response but directly involved — something caught on dashcam from a vehicle coming along Dufferin St. at Liberty St. in January.

What it showed was Rachel Wharton crossing at the light and a Toronto Police vehicle turning left through the crosswalk and coming into contact with Wharton. The video shows her frantically doing a road dance to avoid being hit and the SUV coming to a fast stop. She falls forward, drops her phone to the street, and then after collecting it, has a quick interaction with the officer at the wheel before she walks on and he drives off.

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“Scared, a little shocked and then kind of angry because as a pedestrian I had the right of way,” Wharton told Jon Woodward of CTV News, adding she had “choice words” for the cop.

While she said the officer did ask if she was OK, she said he didn’t provide any contact information and police were not originally called to investigate the incident.

However, soon after Wharton saw the video captured by the approaching car and, upon advice from lawyer David Shellnutt, filed a report with Toronto Police herself.

She told CTV a detective later said there would be no charges since it was determined she was not struck but had leaned forward and grabbed the “push bars” of the cruiser.

“The incident was investigated and seeing as the contact resulted in no injuries and or damages, this incident did not meet the definition of a collision as defined by the Highway Traffic Act,” Toronto Police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CTV. “The incident may have understandably startled the pedestrian, for which the officer apologized, however this was not a collision and the pedestrian was not ‘hit’ by a police car.”

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But Shellnutt — known as the “biking lawyer” — on X posted: “TPS, it is your obligation to pull over and exchange information in the event of a collision” and “also the right thing to do to ensure the person you hit receives cautionary medical attention as they may be in shock. You don’t just drive away, officer.”

Shellnutt told the Toronto Sun the pedestrian was “shaken, confused and angry the officer had hit them and just drove off. We advised the pedestrian of their rights and encouraged they report the collision to TPS.”

The lawyer in following up with police learned investigators “confirmed no charges were issued against the TPS officer for striking the pedestrian or leaving the scene” since “they deemed a motor vehicle collision not to have occurred.”

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But Shellnut feels a precedent may have been set in this case since “we’ve heard from TPS that if there is no contact but a driver veers into someone causing them to fall off their bike it’s not a collision, and even if there is contact, it’s not a collision.”

He says this is “not true” and not how the law is applied.

“If dozens of cyclists can be ticketed in a park without hitting anyone, you’d think for sure a TPS officer who hits someone with their vehicle would be charged,” said Shellnutt. “Otherwise, it would leave the public with the perception of a double standard and lack of accountability.”

There’s a lot of good points being made on all sides. There are no shortage of opinions – perhaps drawn down ideological lines. But when, as Woodward also broke, 1,000 speeding tickets were handed out to on-duty police officers, this is a hot topic right now.

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On Newstalk 1010 with John Moore, Councillor Shelley Carroll said the woman was  “likely in shock” and if the officer “had just gotten out of the car and really checked her welfare, we wouldn’t be looking at her on the news or we wouldn’t be now debating whether this officer did the right thing.”

In Monday-morning quarterbacking tradition, that may have helped. But, if we take out the anti-police, anti-pedestrian or cyclist agendas, this kind of thing happens dozens of times a day in Toronto with no fuss or viral video.

I can see not charging the officer, as long as that courtesy is extended to non-officers in the same situation. Courtesies, discretion and benefits of the doubt are handed out every day — including toward cyclists who could easily be ticketed for stop sign violations, riding on sidewalks or blowing by people walking through intersections and almost hitting them.

That said, the most important thing for all to remember is no one has full domain on the road. It’s a shared experience where, as this video shows, anybody can be hit or be the one to do the hitting.

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