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KSR PHONE PATCH HELPS APPREHEND UNKNOWN ACCIDENT PARTICIPANT
At
approximately 9:00pm on Thursday April 12 Jeff Bowman VE3HSJ and his
wife Lynn were driving Eastbound into Kitchener on Highway 8 when they
were side swiped by a tractor-trailer car carrier. The car carrier, not
feeling the impact, continued from the scene and refused to stop,
fearing he may come to physical harm. Jeff and Lynn continued to follow
the truck in their compact Ford Escort that had suffered damage to the
front right side.
Giving up on flashing lights and horn honking to stop the vehicle, Jeff turned to his Amateur Radio and placed a call for assistance on the Kitchener Repeater VE3KSR for someone to bring up the patch. Paul VE3SY informed Jeff to just dial 911 (KSR has an OPEN 911 patch) which he did and was instantly transferred to the OPP dispatch call-taker.
A description of the suspect vehicle as well as Jeff's vehicle was relayed to the OPP who requested that Jeff put his hazard lights on. As things became a bit hectic, Jeff's wife Lynn took over the microphone relaying the current locations of the truck whom still was refusing to stop.
Just as the patch timer was about to time out the dispatcher asked for their cell-phone number. When he said they weren't on a cell-phone the call-taker asked how he was communicating and was informed "AMATEUR RADIO". The last bit of information was relayed just as the patch timed out.
Club member Terry VE3NSV who drives tow truck was listening on the OPP radio and discovered that the police radio dispatcher was not aware of the direction of travel even though the call-taker had taken the info. Terry then called OPP dispatch and updated the location being given to him by Jeff and Lynn. As the truck was proceeding along the 401 eastbound towards Toronto the OPP were able to come up behind them and through terry he was able to tell Jeff to drop back and let the cruiser in behind to stop the vehicle.
Ron VA3TVS was also on the air in the area and stopped an OPP patrol officer at Highway 24 informing him of the situation and within a few minutes several patrol cars as well as Ron were on site of the stopped truck.
When the truck was stopped and KSR was no longer being used for relaying information, Ron VA3TVS was called by Bruce VE3PXK asking for details, identifying himself as Lynn's brother. He had been scanning as he was traveling and had picked up parts of the ordeal.
Ron informed him of the details, which Bruce later relayed to other family members via a phone patch in Huron County.
After the OPP interviewed the truck driver as well as Jeff and Lynn, the driver was charged with the accident. Due to the fact that Jeff and Lynn were in the left lane when the truck changed lanes, no other charges were laid. - -
Paul VE3SY
Jeff VE3HSJ