Suspects in ramming of Sarnia police cruiser during $58K drug bust granted lease

Both Toronto men Sarnia police accused of ramming an unmarked cruiser containing two officers during a $58,000 drug bust have been granted lease.

Sarnia police previously said the vice unit, amid a months-long investigation involving suspects from the GTA, stopped a vehicle on Russell Street South on June 7. But the vehicle allegedly rammed the cruiser that Wednesday in a failed bid at escaping, police said.

“Luckily, neither the police officers nor the occupants of the suspect vehicle were injured. However, the police vehicle sustained damage,” police said in a statement two days after the incident.

Officers contained the situation and pulled two suspects from the vehicle, police added. While searching the car, they found nearly 420 grams of methamphetamine, almost 166 grams of fentanyl, more than 66 grams of cocaine, and about $550 in cash.

The total street value of the seizure was just shy of $58,500, police said.

Martins Omoregie, 24, and Nana Opoku-Sarkodie, 22, both from Toronto, each are charged with three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Omoregie also is charged with dangerous driving and Opoku-Sarkodie additionally is charged with two counts of failing to comply with a release order. Both were held pending bail hearings, police said.

Both men have since been released and additional details of the alleged incident came to light during Opoku-Sarkodie’s recent bail hearing, which didn’t have a publication ban in place. The car, a black Toyota Camry, backed into a Russell Street South driveway around 10:30 pm when police tried to pin it in.

After the car allegedly accelerated and slammed into the cruiser, the Sarnia police emergency response team came in, broke the passenger’s-side window of the Camry so officers could remove the suspects.

Police later learned Opoku-Sarkodie had a $2,000 release order in place from Thunder Bay and he was supposed to be at home in Toronto with his sureties under a curfew at the time. Opoku-Sarkodie, who was moved from the Sarnia Jail to the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center in London after his arrest, has since pleaded guilty to a single charge of failing to comply with a release order.

That order is no longer in place, but a new one linked to Sarnia is. Opoku-Sarkodie’s $6,000 lease features house arrest and GPS tracking, although he’s allowed to leave his Toronto home as long as he’s with one of his two sureties.

But he can’t contact Omoregie or have weapons. Both men’s cases return to court next week.

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@ObserverTerry