A West Kootenay trio could face a raft of criminal charges after a dramatic roadside takedown in the West Boundary this week, according to Midway RCMP’s Cpl. Phil Peters.
The three suspects, two men and a woman from the Trail area, were allegedly travelling through Oliver in an unregistered Dodge Caliber bearing stolen insurance tags when police tried to stop the hatchback at around noon Wednesday, Jan. 27.
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Peters said a 38-year-old man was seen driving the hatchback when he allegedly fled a highway patrol Mountie, who did not give chase. The female suspect was behind the wheel two hours later, when Midway Mounties punctured the car’s tires using a “spike belt” laid across a side-road near Highway 3, west of Rock Creek.
“It was a work of art,” Peters said.
But the stricken Dodge sped through the trap, coming to a halt on an uphill stretch of road roughly two kilometres away. Undeterred, the female driver then allegedly backed the car into a pursuing police cruiser, making a final escape bid that put all three suspects in handcuffs.
A search of the car later revealed a small amount of suspected methamphetamine and a Tazer, Peters said.
The female suspect had no arrest warrants in her name and was soon released.
The male suspect who allegedly put these events in motion was held in Grand Forks pending his court appearances on eight arrest warrants, some of which Peters said related to charges for driving on a prohibited licence.
A second man who’d been riding in the backseat was later released on a promise to appear on an arrest warrant stemming from a charge of refusing to provide a blood sample after he was arrested for alleged driving drunk, Peters continued.
“There’s going to be a plethora of new charges against all three,” he said.
Midway RCMP intends to recommend two charges of flight from police against each of the alleged drivers. He further intends to recommend a charge of possession of a prohibited against the female suspect, who allegedly owns the Dodge but without having legally registered it in her name.
*Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show that Trail is in the West Kootenay.
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laurie.tritschler@boundarycreektimes.com
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