Thousands of viewers sat glued to their screens for the finale of a five-hour police chase, only to be disappointed by a cliffhanger ending.
Just as the driver of a stolen flatbed truck pulled over for police on the Queen Elizabeth Way near Burlington on Monday afternoon, the Transportation Ministry shut down its live camera feeds.
The plot lacked twists, although the driver eventually made a zed-shaped route across southern Ontario before he gave himself up to police approximately 450 kilometres later. "He was not driving erratically . . . slowing down with traffic and signalling lane changes," said OPP Sgt. Dave Woodford.
The man said nothing as police approached the truck's cab and arrested him, said Woodford. "We don't have any idea why at this point."
At one point, the driver was headed for the U.S. border but then he changed his mind, turned around and aimed for Toronto.
Police cruisers would sporadically speed up to drive beside the truck's cab, adding to the excitement. They were making the driver aware that they wanted him to pull over, OPP spokesman Insp. Dave Ross said.
Unfortunately for viewers, this is where the official broadcast ended. The ministry's policy is to end live camera feeds if there is a "potential for violence" or if an individual might be identified, said spokesman Bob Nichols.
As well, the ministry has agreements with the media that its camera feeds are just meant for traffic reports, he said.
If only CP24's helicopter hadn't run out of gas and been forced to land in St. Catharines just minutes before, the station could have thwarted efforts to keep viewers in the dark about the finale.
Not that it was very dramatic - at least not when compared to the infamous Ford Bronco chase of 1994 involving O.J. Simpson.
Twitter, and bad traffic, helped save the day for viewers hoping to catch a glimpse of the man behind the wheel.
Brock University student Kiran Madesha, 21, pulled over to snap a photo of the incident that made it big time on the Twitterverse.
The confrontation ended peacefully. The man stood with his hands up at gunpoint for over five minutes, Madesha said. At one point, he lifted his jacket to prove he wasn't carrying a weapon.
Charges have not yet been laid, but the man is in custody, said Ross. Police did not release his name.
With files from The Hamilton Spectator
Copyright 2011 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited
