AMBER ALERT AFTERMATH
OPP to review case which ends with child in hospital, father in custody
A close call for a four-year-old girl allegedly abducted by her father will result in an OPP review of the Amber Alert case. The girl was rushed to CHEO by air ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries after the van she was riding in rolled over near Pembroke.
As a four-year-old girl was rushed to CHEO by air ambulance on Monday, questions were being raised about authorities’ response to an Amber Alert issued in her name, which came to a gut-wrenching end when the van she had been travelling in crashed near Pembroke.
OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes said the case will be reviewed in wake of Monday’s events.
Young Julia Dela Cruz was allegedly taken by her father, Mario Rodrigues, 46, from her Aurora home around 5:45 a.m.. Police say he took off in a silver 2008 Toyota Sienna.
She was found almost five hours later near Pembroke after a vehicle rollover, which followed a police chase, and was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Some aspects of the investigation were not immediately communicated to the OPP — including evidence of forced entry and abduction, sources say.
But once details of the alleged abduction were communicated, the Amber Alert was issued.
“Communications in such an incident are vital and if there were breakdowns, they need to be identified and they need to be fixed and they will be fixed,” Hawkes said.
He added that while the case is in the hands of the Special Investigations Unit, the provincial police watchdog, the OPP will also conduct a review.
When asked why the Amber Alert was issued more than four hours after the alleged abduction, police said that’s when they received information suggesting the child was in danger.
An Amber Alert is issued when police believe a child under 18 has been abducted, the child is in danger, and an immediate broadcast will help locate the child.
But early indications show there were some communications “glitches” in the translation of the information — for instance, with text-to-voice using the American “zee” instead of the Canadian “zed” when the system read out the licence plate, and attempting to phonetically say “GTA” as “geeta” as opposed to conveying “Greater Toronto Area.”
During the Amber Alert, OPP officers near Bancroft spotted and attempted to stop the Sienna around 9:30 a.m. A chase ensued when the vehicle, which matched the description put out in the Amber Alert, would not stop, but was broken off when the vehicle managed to evade pursuing police cars.
A vehicle was involved in a crash a short time later on Paul Martin Drive in Pembroke, when it rounded a curve in the road and rolled over. Michael Nolan, chief paramedic and director of emergency services for the County of Renfrew, said the girl suffered non life-threatening injuries that were serious enough to require heli-transport to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
Const. Andy Pattenden of York Regional police confirmed her father was in police custody.