Police Chief Mark Saunders’ vehicle was spotted parked illegally on Wednesday afternoon, next to a fire hydrant at a busy intersection, while he attended an event in downtown Toronto.
In a photo taken by a Global News cameraman, the chief’s police-issued SUV was parked directly in front of a fire hydrant on Victoria Ave., just east of Dundas St. E., at about 12:30 p.m. Global reported that the SUV remained parked there for more than 30 minutes.
According to the police service, Saunders was attending the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies’ Freedom Day, and ensured that the driver of the vehicle was “close enough in the event firefighters needed access to the hydrant.”
“The Chief of Police’s driver goes to great lengths to park appropriately,” police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told the Star. “If there is no other option, they will park where they need to, in order to provide that safety and security should something happen.”
In an initiative at the beginning of September to crack down on gridlock,
Toronto Police issued 1,467 tickets and towed 298 vehicles in a four-day enforcement blitz targeting parked vehicles that were obstructing busy downtown streets.
According to a Canadian Press analysis of Toronto’s parking-ticket data, the city collected more than $24 million between 2008 and 2014 in fines levied against drivers who parked too close to hydrants.