Anger after Ontario cop seen casually scrolling phone while driving at high speed

A video of an Ontario cop having some screen time with his phone while cruising at highway speeds is garnering much attention on social media this week.

The clip, posted to TikTok on Monday, shows a York Regional Police (YRP) officer driving on an unidentified highway in the region while scanning through his phone and paying little attention to the road ahead.

@static.nick95 @York Regional Police @O.P.P explain this one..🤔🤔 #yrp #opp #fyp #fypシ #foryoupage #textinganddriving ♬ Music Sounds Better With You x Fake ID - J-Key

The video has been met with a mix of anger and understanding, with over 1,700 comments and approaching 10,000 likes within just 15 hours of being posted.

Many are outraged by the perceived double standard of police engaged in activities others would be pulled over for. As one user wrote, "so many laws police ignore or think they're above."

While the vast majority of commenters were quick to get their back up over the clip, many other users pointed out that not all civilian laws apply to on-duty police officers, often for good reason.

"Sometimes they're on a distress call and on their way to a situation and need to keep updated," noted one commenter.

Drivers of emergency service vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks and ambulances, are indeed exempt from laws prohibiting hand-held devices while on duty. So, while this officer may be branded as a hypocrite by some and accused of disregarding traffic safety by others, it appears no laws were actually broken in this clip.

Regardless of legality, it's safe to say that driving at highway speeds without so much as glancing at the roadway ahead is not something anyone would recommend or endorse.

A YRP representative acknowledged to blogTO that, while legal under Highway Traffic Act legislation, police "will be looking into this incident to determine what the circumstances were at the time."