VIDEO: Thugs brazenly smash Canadian police cruiser with rocks, lacrosse stick while cops manage to stay calm in their seats
Two males were caught on video recently walking up to a parked Ontario (Canada) Provincial Police cruiser and smashing it with rocks and a lacrosse stick while officers stayed calm in their seats.
What are the details?
The incident occurred in Caledonia — about 60 miles southwest of Toronto and about the same distance west of Niagara Falls, New York — where tensions regarding an indigenous land dispute have been reemerging, CTV News reported.
It isn't clear when the incident occurred, but video of it was posted Sunday afternoon on OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique's Twitter page.
The officer behind the steering wheel calmly radios that "the male with camo is throwing rocks at us" as a second male dressed in dark clothing walks to the driver-side door, tells the cops to leave, and repeatedly pounds the driver-side window with the butt of a lacrosse stick and uses it to hit the hood.
The clip presumably was recorded on cellphone by an officer in the cruiser's passenger seat.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @OPPCommissioner
The male dressed in camouflage soon walks up to the cruiser and chucks a rock at the windshield, which cracks upon impact.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @OPPCommissioner
The male in camo also punches the passenger-side window before the first male resumes pounding on the hood — as well as the passenger-side window — with his lacrosse stick.
The whole time the officer on the radio keeps calmly relaying what's going on: "A lacrosse stick is hitting our cruiser."
Finally, when the male with the lacrosse stick returns to the driver-side window to pound it, he appears to take off running as the officer begins to open the door.
Here's the video:
Protestors falsely blamed #OPP for escalation in #Caledonia. Extremely proud of my officers for their professional… https://t.co/DYalUSzxjz— Thomas Carrique (@Thomas Carrique)1603662268.0
"Protestors falsely blamed #OPP for escalation in #Caledonia," Carrique tweeted. "Extremely proud of my officers for their professional and measured response to keep the peace & preserve life while under attack. Arrests continue as members take responsible and sustained enforcement approach."
What happened next?
What the video doesn't show is that while attempting to arrest the assailants, additional protesters targeted the officers, police told CTV News.
Carrique told the station one protester continued to throw pieces of lumber at police — who responded by firing a single round of a rubber, non-lethal projectile, which struck the demonstrator in the leg, after which the demonstrator fled.
Police told CTV News another officer used a Taser to control an aggressive subject, but added it was ineffective due to the person's heavy clothing.
Cops identified the male with the lacrosse stick, and he will be facing charges, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt confirmed to CTV News, adding that police are trying to identify the male in camouflage clothing.