OFFICERS SAVED LIVES
Aman previously investigated for espousing extremist views turned a family sedan and a moving van into instruments of terror on Edmonton streets Saturday night. By injuring five people, including a police constable, the driver brought close to home the same horror experienced by innocents in Nice, London, Stockholm, Paris and Charlottesville where terrorists have, in just over a year, plowed vehicles into crowds with tragic results.
As shocking and senseless as the rampage in Edmonton was, it differs from those attacks in that no one was killed Saturday — not outside packed Commonwealth Stadium where Abdulahi Hasan Sharif allegedly slammed his Chevy Malibu into Const. Mike Chernyk or hours later on Jasper Avenue, hopping with people out on the town, when a U-Haul van drove into pedestrians.
The consequences of Saturday’s attacks were dreadful enough: five people suffered injuries from broken limbs to a fractured skull, and two victims remained in hospital as of Monday, one in serious condition.
It could have been worse. Any vehicle travelling at speed and driven with murderous intent becomes a weapon of mass destruction. Think back to July 2016 when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel smashed a 19-tonne truck into crowds of Bastille Day celebrants in Nice, killing 86 and injuring many more before he was shot dead.
A nod of gratitude goes to the Edmonton Police Service, whose officers quickly and effectively averted a far-worse tragedy.
Credit starts with Const. Chernyk, the 11-year veteran working traffic duty at the Edmonton Eskimos game who wrestled with the suspect, blocking the attacker’s knife with one hand and holding on to his gun with the other.
This, after being stabbed in the head and tossed four-and-a-half metres in the air when hit by the suspect’s car. Chernyk may have prevented the attacker from taking his weapon and using it on others. Two other officers — including a twoweek rookie — manning a checkstop on Wayne Gretzky Drive stopped a man driving a U-Haul truck and recognized the driver’s name.
When the truck fled, a senior supervisor quickly decided officers should follow the fleeing truck and six police cruisers, including two unmarked tactical cars. When police saw the speeding truck targeting bystanders, an officer in one of the unmarked cars executed a tactical manoeuvre that caused the van to crash and roll on its side. Police arrested the suspect without firing a shot.
Some are second-guessing the decision to pursue the suspect, but given the circumstances and the potential for greater harm, it’s hard to argue with the police call at this point.