Motorcycle cop injured after smacking into flying goose
By
Bob Bruton ,Barrie Examiner
First posted: Thursday, June 26, 2014 12:46 PM EDT | Updated:
Thursday, June 26, 2014 05:20 PM EDT
BARRIE, Ont. — An Ontario motorcycle cop was seriously injured Thursday after smacking into a flying Canada goose on Hwy. 11, north of Barrie.
Const. Pete Tucker was part of an escort convoy in training just before 9:30 a.m.
“(The goose) was flying and came into his path,” said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police's highway safety division.
Schmidt said it appears the goose hit the motorcycle's windshield, which was torn off.
Tucker, a member of the provincial police's Golden Helmet precision motorcycle team, was airlifted to a Toronto hospital with serious leg injuries.
“He does have a long recovery time pending,” Schmidt said. “He's got a battle ahead of him.”
The goose was found dead about 150 metres from the crash.
Tucker was interviewed by QMI Agency for a story in 2012 and he talked about the dangers officers face on the highways.
"I don't worry about getting shot or stabbed in this job," he said. "My biggest fear is vehicle collisions. That's the most realistic danger that I face every day."
The highway, where it meets Hwy. 400, was closed for several hours.
An OPP officer sustained serious injuries after a crash in the southbound lanes of Highway 11, near the Highway 400 split in Barrie, Ont., Thursday morning. (BOB BRUTON/QMI Agency)
Motorcycle cop injured after smacking into flying goose | Ontario | News | Toron
Flying goose caused OPP officer’s Barrie motorcycle accident
06/26/2014 01:19 PM Toronto staff
A veteran Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer suffered serious leg injuries in a motorcycle crash in Barrie on Thursday after he was struck by a flying goose during a training exercise, OPP Commissioner Vincent Hawkes says.
Const. Pete Tucker, from the OPP’s Niagara detachment, was riding on Highway 400 near Highway 11 when he was struck by the goose. The impact caused him to lose control and veer across several lanes into a ditch.
He was airlifted to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
“He’s been stabilized but there is going to be a long road to recovery,” Hawkes said.
“Most of his injuries are on his extremities and mostly his legs.”
The officer was part of a motorcade training exercise that involved 14 motorcycles and other vehicles at the time of the crash.
Hawkes said it was fortunate that the highway was shut down to traffic at the time, or things could have been worse.
Tucker is in his 40s and is a married father.
“He’s very experienced,” Hawkes said, adding he’s part of the OPP’s Golden Helmets team. “It’s just one of these fluke accidents.”
“I’ve never seen one of our officers hit by a bird flying in the air.”
Highway 11, both northbound and southbound, was closed at Highway 400, but has since reopened.
OPP officer injured in Barrie crash | CityNews
OPP officer on motorcycle hurt by flying goose
June 26, 2014
An OPP police officer was injured Thursday in Barrie when he was struck by a flying goose while on his motorcycle during training exercise.
OPP officer on motorcycle hurt by flying goose | CityNews
his goose was nearly cooked.