Police are investigating a bizarre incident that happened after a car smashed into a parked vehicle in downtown Nanaimo on Saturday.
At around 10 a.m., Justin Kovac had just started up his Ford pickup truck, which was parked on Wallace Street, when a Volkwagen smashed into him.
“I could see them coming out of my side-view mirror and then they just veered and nailed the crap out of my truck,” he said.
The impact was so hard it deployed the airbags.
While the crash was surprising, what happened next really surprised Kovac.
Instead of tending to the driver, who was knocked unconscious by the impact, a teenager sitting in the passenger seat got out of the vehicle holding a baton.
“The guy in the passenger seat stumbled out of the vehicle. He had a baton in his hand and then the girl in the driver’s seat who was driving was passed out cold,” recalled Kovac.
“I took a picture of the licence plate and then they uttered some unkind words.”
Kovac says the teenager was threatening him and others nearby, adding that he was concerned for his safety as the teen was acting aggressively with the baton.
“Highly unstable,” he said. “I don’t want to assume anything but they’re not in their right mind that’s for sure.”
Wayne Dziadyk told CHEK News he saw the car run a red light before he heard the collision and ran over to see if he could help as soon as it happened. He said when he arrived on the scene, he encountered the teenage passenger holding the baton.
“I saw a black baton in his hand there and he uttered some nice words there. He said ‘you’re not phoning the cops are you?’ and I said I was already on the line with the cops.”
Nanaimo RCMP eventually arrested the teenager, who had a different version of the collision.
“The cops arrested me over nothing just because buddy smashed into us,” said the teen, who CHEK has chosen not to name due to his age.
Meanwhile, the female driver eventually regained consciousness but BC Ambulance still took her to the hospital.
Nanaimo RCMP has not publicly disclosed what charges the teen could be facing.
The teen, who CHEK has not identified due to his age, says the Nanaimo RCMP arrested him “over nothing.” (CHEK News)
A Volkswagen sedan crashed into a Ford pickup truck that was parked on Wallace Street in Nanaimo at around 10 a.m. Saturday (CHEK News)
Kendall Hanson
