A Cobourg Police officer received minor injuries after being dragged following a traffic stop on Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
It was around 7 p.m. that a Cobourg Police officer pulled over a vehicle on Division Street (County Road 45) just south of the Highway 401 overpass.
A witness who had just got off the eastbound off-ramp and passed the scene said she thought something was “different.”
Both the police cruiser and vehicle were pulled off onto the shoulder of the roadway.
“Before we could merge into the lane we saw the police officer, kind of bent down trying to talk into their car,” said the witness.
The car window was only down approximately one-inch while the officer was dealing with the situation.
“As we were trying to merge it was a girl with blonde hair driving. She had a black hoody pulled up and we thought that was really weird.”
There were also two passengers in the vehicle.
A short time after the witness saw the interaction the officer was dragged by the vehicle which sped away.
Another witness was driving southbound on County Road 45 and noticed the vehicle travelling northbound and pull over to the shoulder of the road just passed the Highway 401 bridge.
A person got out of the driver’s side rear seat, “and scrambled frantically to the side of the road behind the car.”
The witness said the man dropped a number of things when he exited out of the vehicle before running into the ditch and into the wooded area.
The two people in the car continued northbound on County Road 45.
OPP and Port Hope Police were alerted to the incident and broadcast a description of the vehicle.
While police were dealing with that situation, another officer was dealing with a vehicle that had struck a number of guide posts just north of Baltimore.
The officer heard the description of the vehicle and a short time later, Hamilton Township firefighters who were also at the scene of the collision directing traffic spotted the vehicle and notified the police officer.
The two occupants of the vehicle immediately put their hands out the window for the firefighters before the officer on scene had even been alerted.
The driver’s side of the vehicle showed scuff marks where the officer was possibly dragged by the vehicle.
The Cobourg officer was treated for minor injuries by Northumberland County paramedics at the MTO parking lot at the corner of Division Street and County Road 45.
OPP officers converged on the area and set up a perimeter where the suspect was last seen going into the wooded area by the westbound on-ramp on County Road 45.
Officers were set up at various locations along County Road 45 and Highway 401 while an OPP canine unit was called to the scene.
The canine unit and OPP ERT (Emergency Response Team) members searched the area extensively, but couldn’t locate the suspect.
Shortly after 9 p.m. OPP called off the search for the suspect.
Today’s Northumberland will continue to provide updates when they become available.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
