Kingston Police released a statement addressing a photo that circulated online that captured a city police cruiser parked in an accessible parking spot.
The marked cruiser parked in an accessible spot at a McDonalds was shared on reddit and quickly became one of the biggest posts in the history of the Kingston subreddit, garnering over 500 comments.
In response to the photo and criticism that resulted, Kingston Police released a statement saying it was captured during a police response to an emergency call in the area.
“On December 27, 2023 members of the Kingston Police Patrol Division were responding to an emergency call for service which occurred in the area of the Kingslake Plaza located at 1201 Division Street,” the statement read.
“The individual involved in this incident had fled the area on foot and information received indicated they may have entered a nearby restaurant located within the plaza.
In an effort to locate the individual, the responding officer quickly parked their cruiser in an accessible parking space. Although this was an unfortunate use of an accessible parking space there was no intention to deny any members of the public use of this space.”
Kingston Police said the individual was not located at that specific McDonalds restaurant, but was located at a nearby business soon after.
Pertaining to the investigation police say was underway when the photo was taken, a 28 year old was arrested and charged with two counts of theft under $5000, two counts of breach of probation and one count of mischief under $5000.
The post resulted in a debate over whether or not an emergency vehicle should be excused for parking in an accessible space in case they need to quickly return to their vehicle to respond to a call.
While Kingston Police implied that isn’t the case in their statement, they noted that in this particular instance it was in response to a call, with the assumption that a suspect may be inside the restaurant.
The person who posted the photo shared no context, but explicitly stated that the officers were there strictly as customers, while other posters doubled down and said they were at the McDonald’s and witnessed the officers sitting down to eat, claiming the photo was taken just a day before it was posted.
However Kingston Police’s statement is completely at odds with that, and nobody claiming to have seen the vehicle has since refuted the statement.
