Oak Bay Police
Oak Bay Police have charged a 19-year-old man with Impaired Driving by Drug after he crashed into a tree in a city park early Friday morning.
According to police, they arrived at Queen’s Park in Oak Bay around 2am after receiving a call of a car crash.
The vehicle had veered off road, across a patch of grass in the park and came to a stop after hitting a large tree at the park’s edge. Police say the driver, along with his passenger, walked away from the incident with only minor injuries, but feel they got lucky.
“The tree quite likely stopped them from proceeding into the ocean which, obviously, could’ve been disastrous for them,” Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties told CHEK News.
Thankfully the 19 yr old male driver & passenger survived w/ only minor injuries. At 2am they crashed thru Queens Park & hit a tree. Otherwise they'd be in ocean. Now he can tell his friends that you can get charged w/ Impaired Driving by Drug. He chose to learn the hard way. pic.twitter.com/U1Ar727IZl
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) January 10, 2020
A picture passed along to CHEK News from a viewer shows the location of the crash in the daylight. The tree in Queen’s Park was located right next to a small drop off above the ocean as seen below.
Upon arriving on scene, police said that they had reasonable grounds to suspect drug use by the driver and have laid charges down subject to submitting a Blood Demand test. A test of this nature will identify if a specific drug was in the blood stream and determine the amount.
According to Oak Bay police, the same vehicle had been called in earlier in the evening as a possible impaired driver.
“This young man is so lucky that he didn’t kill someone. As it is, he has just dramatically changed his life’s trajectory through this senseless decision to drive while under the influence of drugs. I hope he cherishes the 20 bucks he saved on a cab.” Bernoties added.
Oak Bay Police advises that if you witness potential impaired or dangerous driving to give them a call on their non-emergency line at (250) 592-2424.