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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A new municipal enforcement pickup truck was damaged in a collision on Highway 3 near Fred Henne Park Sunday night.

According to the other driver involved in the accident, he broadsided one of the city's 2012 Ford 150 pickup trucks when the bylaw officer behind the wheel attempted to make a U-turn. Josh Baker was driving his 1998 Oldsmobile on the highway, a few vehicles behind the bylaw truck, around 10 p.m. that night. Heading west, he said the bylaw officer spotted an oncoming vehicle speeding toward the Niven Lake subdivision. Baker said the bylaw officer flipped on his emergency lights and pulled the truck onto the shoulder.

"He looked like he was going to wait for me to pass so that he could whip around, but there must have been a miscommunication and he whipped around right in front of me," said Baker, who slammed into the driver's side door of the bylaw truck, near the Fred Henne Park entrance. "About the time that he went on the shoulder of the road, I would have had to slam on the brakes just to slow down."

Baker said he and the bylaw officer were taken to hospital and were released "without a scratch." Both vehicles were taken from the scene by tow truck. The bylaw truck is parked behind the fire hall with a yellow band wrapped around the damaged door. Baker said his car's front end was heavily damaged. He added that his air bag deployed and he thinks the air bag in the bylaw truck was also activated.

According to the 2012 city capital budget, the municipal enforcement division requested the purchase of a new vehicle. Two Ford 150 pickup trucks are in the budget this year, both priced at $32,000 after a trade-in of older vehicles. Another driver who was in the area that night, but who requested anonymity, was travelling toward Niven between 9:45 p.m. and 10 p.m. He said the authorities were turning motorists around pretty far from the accident scene.

"By the sounds of it, a cop car tried to make a U-turn and got T-boned. That is about the only information I got," he said.

The city released the following statement confirming the accident:

"On Sunday October 14, 2012 a Municipal Enforcement Division patrol vehicle was involved in an accident on Highway 3 near Fred Henne Campground. This accident is being investigated by the Yellowknife RCMP, and no further comment can be provided until that investigation is concluded."

Asked how much the city paid for the vehicle, Nalini Naidoo, the city's communications and economic development director, stated the city will not comment until the investigation is complete.

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