POLICE PRAISE ARCHER 1200 MOBILE BARRIERS FOR “AVERTING A POSSIBLE DISASTER”
The driver escaped serious injury. The barriers provided to the city by Meridian Rapid Defense Group were quickly put back undamaged after the man’s car was towed away.
Police were quickly on the scene. “Those barriers did an awesome job,” said a senior police officer, “because the driver was heading straight for the parade route, accelerating too, I think these barriers have averted a possible disaster here today.”
Meridian Rapid Defense Group CEO Peter Whitford attended the scene and after checking on the driver’s condition explained how the barriers effectively stopped the vehicle without endangering the driver.
“This, once again, is a classic case of why security barriers of this strength are needed at these crowded events. Here, as happened last year at the Pasadena Rose Parade, a driver mistakenly makes a wrong turn and the lives of dozens of people are immediately put at risk,” said Mr. Whitford.
“If in this case,” he said, “the Archer mobile barriers hadn’t stopped the car, look down there, all those parade watchers with their backs to us wouldn’t have seen him coming.”
The City of Torrance decided this year, for the first time, to take the extra precautions to secure the parade route with a combination of Archer 1200 Barriers and Archer gates. Earlier in the day, the Meridian Vehicle Safety Mitigation Plan (VSMP) also secured the route for the Torrance Armed Forces Day 5K for Freedom Run/Walk, hosted by the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce.
Torrance council-member Aurelio Mattucci, speaking to the Daily Breeze newspaper explained why the city decided on tightening security this year. “We expect a higher turnout. Of course, with higher turnout, there’s obviously higher exposure to incidents,” Mattucci said. “So, we try to take as many precautions as we can.”
“It’s a high ticket, expensive item, but I made the point to say, ‘You know what? If we can’t secure it, I’d rather almost not do it,’” the council-member said. “I would be the first to say that we need to cancel if I don’t think it’s a safe event, especially with all the things that are happening around the world.”
The day before this latest incident in Torrance, the city of Vancouver in Canada received two trailer loads of Meridian Archer barriers to ensure there would be no repeat of the tragedy last month when a man drove into a festival crowd killing 11 people and leaving many more injured.
Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim said they were following the lead of U.S. cities that adopted mobile barriers after similar vehicle attacks. “These barriers have just arrived, and they can be deployed quickly to prevent vehicle-related incidents, whether accidental or intentional, at public gatherings.”
Meridian Archer 1200 Barriers are “SAFETY Act Certified” by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) providing the ultimate standard in keeping people, communities and places safer. For more information about Meridian Rapid Defense Group and the Archer 1200 vehicle barrier visit www.meridian-barrier.com
Eric Alms
Meridian Rapid Defense Group
+1 213-400-9811
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Torrance Parade Incident