Niagara police chief warns against misinformation following Rainbow Bridge crash

Bryan MacCulloch said that although the incident was quickly confirmed to be non-terrorist related, speculation in the mainstream media and online had caused ‘significant and unnecessary anxiety’ within the local community

The Niagara Region’s chief of police has warned about the dangers of misinformation, following the crash at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing on Wednesday.

Bryan MacCulloch said that although the incident was quickly confirmed to be non-terrorist related, speculation in the mainstream media and online had caused “significant and unnecessary anxiety” within the local community.

Following the blast, which occurred the day before Thanksgiving, several right-wing media outlets and politicians were forced to backtrack on claims that the crash was linked to terrorism, with some having blamed president Joe Biden’s border policies for the incident.

A Fox News report had cited “high-level police sources” who linked terrorism to the crash and believed the two people travelling in the car packed it “full of explosives,” a claim the network later retracted.

Senator Ted Cruz also claimed the incident was a terror attack, tweeting: “This confirms our worst fear: the explosion at Rainbow Bridge was a terrorist attack.”

Niagara Region chief of police Bryan MacCulloch has warned agains the dangers of misinformation following the Rainbow Bridge border crossing crash (Niagara Region Police Services Board)

Florida congressman Byron Donalds wrote in a since-deleted X post: “Open borders, soft-on-crime policies, and bending a knee to the woke PC mob.”

“Today’s apparent terrorist attack must be a wake-up call to all Americans. Now—more than ever—we need a change in leadership in our nation,” he said.

Nearby Buffalo airport was briefly shut to international flights following the crash, but was later reopened, as were the border crossings. New York Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed in a news conference that there was “no sign of terrorism” in the incident.

Addressing the Niagara Region Police Services Board on Thursday, Mr MacCulloch said: “We saw an immense amount of misinformation and speculation on both mainstream and social media platforms, which created significant and unnecessary anxiety in the community.”

He later told CBC Hamilton: “I think what we saw on Wednesday was really the speed at which misinformation [spreads] in today’s environment of social media and how quickly it can spiral.”

Mr MacCulloch did not refer to any specific piece of msinformation or outlet, but referenced claims of an attack, that the car had come from Canada, and that the vehicle was filled with explosives.

Two people died in the crash (AP)

“None of that information was accurate. None of it was corroborated. Yet that didn’t stop individuals, and in some cases media outlets, from putting that information out,” he said.

“We have four international bridge crossings here in the Niagara Region that lead into the United States and [I think] their closing [out of] an abundance of caution added to that fear and anxiety that there was the potential for another attack when in fact, there wasn’t an original attack.”

Police have said previously that it will take a while for the true cause of the crash to be established. 3D scanners are currently being used to help recreate a “digital crash site” and information from the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder – similar to an aircraft’s “black box” – is also being investigated.

"I know that there’s an intense drive to get information, and ask people to be patient and wait for accurate information coming from a trusted official source," Mr MacCulloch said.