Pursuit of a dangerous driver involved in collisions across multiple jurisdictions – Golden, Revelstoke and Sicamous – finally came to an end with a “high-risk takedown” by Salmon Arm RCMP.
The incident started in Golden on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 11:05 p.m. when a woman reported that her family’s vehicle had been hit by a white Dodge Ram 1500 pickup on the Trans Canada Highway. She said that they had initially come across the truck parked on the highway with no lights on and swerved to avoid it. The driver then caught up to them, rear ended them, and rammed the driver’s side before speeding off headed west, police said.
The Revelstoke RCMP was advised of the situation, and located the truck shortly after when two police vehicles attempted to stop it. To avoid them, the driver crossed the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic, while officers didn’t pursue. The detachment later received a report of a vehicle being rammed, then run off the road by a while Dodge Ram that was heading west on Highway 1. The driver involved in that collision suffered a broken bone.
Sicamous RCMP were then alerted to the truck heading their way, where an officer located the pickup with front end damage driving on the highway.
The Dodge pickup got stuck behind a semi and was followed to Canoe where Salmon Arm RCMP were set up and waiting with a spike belt.
Officers attempted to stop the truck there but “it again fled at a high rate of speed and into oncoming traffic,” said Const. Andrew Hodges in a Feb. 13 news release.
“The spike belt was deployed but was avoided by the truck.”
Additional Salmon Arm members located the Dodge at a local gas station, and were able to box it in with support from a Sicamous officer.
“The male driver was arrested in a high-risk takedown without incident,” Hodges said. “It was determined the driver may have been suffering from a mental health issue and was transported to a local hospital.”
Police forwarded several charges to the BC Prosecution Service for consideration.
“This was a high-risk situation where our officers made tough decisions in considering of the safety of the public, and attempting to stop this driver,” Sgt. Simon Scott said.
“This incident shows the great communication and teamwork between our officers at neighbouring detachments in safely locating and stopping this driver before anyone was more seriously injured.”
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