Saanich Police responded to a number of impaired driver incidents this weekend, which resulted in an injury to an officer, a crashed truck, and small grass fire.
On June 9 around midnight, an officer with the BC Highway Patrol CRD – Integrated Road Safety Unit was patrolling in Saanich when he stopped a vehicle in the 4000-block of Cedar Hill Cross Road to check on the driver’s sobriety.
The officer presented an alcohol screening device to the driver, when he suddenly started his vehicle and accelerated away. The officer was pulled and knocked to the ground.
A Saanich Police officer witnessed the incident, checked on the officer to ensure injuries were not life-threatening, then followed and attempted to stop the vehicle.
The officer stopped their vehicle at the end of a dead-end street and got out and ran into the park, and officers were unable to locate him.
However, at the start of the traffic stop, the driver had handed over his driver’s licence which had not yet been returned to him.
Officers were able to use the information on his licence to go to his home, and found him inside.
The 33-year-old man is now facing six recommended charges including assaulting a police officer with a weapon, operation of a motor vehicle while impaired, flight from police, dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm, fail to remain at the scene of a collision, and fail to provide a breath sample.
The IRSU officer is expected to make a full recovery.
The next day, on Saturday, June 10 around 10 p.m., a Saanich officer pulled over a pickup truck in the 900-block of Nicholson Street to check the driver’s sobriety.
A passenger in the front seat identified himself as the registered owner of the vehicle. The officer conducted a roadside breath test on the driver, and she failed. When the officer was explaining the process to the driver and owner, the owner of the vehicle became “increasingly upset that his truck would face a 30-day impoundment.”
The owner of the vehicle then ran to the driver’s seat and sped off toward Quadra Street. One officer stayed with the original driver of the truck, and another followed to stop the truck.
When the officer turned onto Quadra, he found the driver had crashed into a tree and fence. The owner was seen running away from the truck into a neighbouring yard.
More officers came to the area and found him in the backyard of a home on Nicholson Street. He was arrested and brought to the Saanich Police Department, and breath tests found him to also be over the legal alcohol limit.
The initial driver received a 90-day roadside driving prohibition, and the truck, which police note is likely now damaged beyond repair, was impounded for 30 days.
The owner, who is 30 years old, is facing recommended charges of impaired operation of a motor vehicle, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, and flight from police.
On June 12, a third impaired driving incident occurred around 1 p.m.
Police were called to a vehicle travelling on West Saanich Road near Quadra Street without a front wheel.
Officers went to the area and found the vehicle in the 4200 block of Glanford Avenue, and it had come to a stop after the passenger-side wheel assembly had broken. The driver was brought to the police department and breath tests showed he was almost two times over the legal limit.
The first report of the vehicle came in 30 minutes before he was found in the 1400 block of Admirals Road in View Royal, and the driver travelled into Saanich.
Along the way, the vehicle scraping on the ground allegedly sparked a small grass fire on the shoulder of Glanford Road.
Police are recommending charges of impaired operation of a motor vehicle, and impaired driving over .08.
CHEK News
