The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is investigating a collision between an unmarked police SUV and a car in Courtenay, B.C.
The collision happened on April 29.
Jesse Eccles had just picked up his blue Subaru from the mechanic shop and was driving for under a minute before an unmarked police car blew through a stop sign and T-boned him.
“I saw maybe a black vehicle approaching off the side but you’re not going to think twice about it,” he said.
Eccles said the airbag deployed and he spun 180 degrees into a boulder on the side of the road.
He said he thought he wasn’t badly injured, but when his adrenaline came down, he noticed a ringing in his ear, his back was getting stiff and he had a shooting pain in his lower back.
He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
The crash was captured on surveillance video and sirens can be heard just before the collision, but Eccles said it happened so fast.
His friend, Michael Sagadore, was following behind.
“(The car) came barreling through the stop sign,” he said.
“Jesse had zero time to react. There was probably half a second between the actual lights, sirens and impact.”
The IIO confirmed the officer was on his way to a call when the collision occurred.
“We’re looking into of course all aspects of it,” Simon Druker, the media liaison with the IIO said.
“We always encourage any witnesses or anyone who may have seen or heard anything or was in the area to give us a call.
“If you have video surveillance, video footage as well we are always looking to see that and speak to witnesses.”
The officer returned a few minutes later, accepting full responsibility.
Eccles did go to ICBC and he said his case is still under investigation, but he is worried his car will be a write-off.
His car also had quite a few modifications and Eccles said he is concerned he won’t be compensated for those.
“The officer did take accountability so I’m just hoping that, with money these days, if I’ve dumped money into something, especially in a case like this, it’s definitely going to suck to lose there,” Eccles said.
“I shouldn’t have to walk away getting penalized by getting smoked like that.”
ICBC confirmed to Global News that if Eccles has any receipts for after-market adjustments that will be taken into consideration.