A late-night incident that ended with a pickup truck on its roof after crashing through a fence in a parking lot and landing 20 feet below in Barrie's north end has left city police with more questions than answers.
Barrie police got the call just before midnight on Sunday, Dec. 29, reporting a vehicle on its roof in the wooded area below the parking area of the Arcadian Students apartment complex on Georgian Drive.
“Two individuals were located with the vehicle. One was treated for minor injuries on scene, one was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries,” Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leons aid.
“There don’t appear to have been any other vehicles involved, but there may have been other individuals in the vehicle at the time of the occurrence," he added.
The investigation is ongoing.
“There are a number of issues surrounding this incident that police are trying to find the answers to,” Leon said when asked if police believe alcohol may have been a factor or if charges were pending.
Retrieving the black pickup truck from its landing spot took a heavy-duty operator and two light-duty operators, explained Mercedez Falcao, regional manager with Classic Towing, which responded to the call.
“As far as I am aware, they drove right off the ledge there in the parking lot,” she said. “We did have our heavy-duty operator there to recover the vehicle from the other side of the wall, lifted it back over and on to the ground, as well as two additional light-duty operators in attendance to assist."
Classic Towing crews were there until about 3 a.m., Falcao said.
Falcao said crews experienced a “little bit of difficulty” upon the initial lift, given the vehicle’s precarious location, but noted everything ultimately went smoothly once the vehicle was lifted into the air midway.
“It was approximately a 20-foot drop,” she said, noting the recovery took crews approximately three-and-a-half hours to complete. “We have gotten (calls) that were pretty intense in the past … vehicles into houses, pools … which we also had to use the rotator to recover.
"It does take quite a while because you want to exercise as much caution as possible," Falcao added. "A couple of extra eyes are always best as well. It was a difficult recovery, however I think our guys did an excellent job considering the circumstances.”
