A Chilliwack man faces numerous criminal charges after a dramatic hit-and-run over the lunch hour downtown last Friday.
Brett James Richardson, 40, was arrested and briefly held in custody facing charges of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, and two counts of failure to comply with probation.
[Ed. note: An earlier version of this story stated Richardson was in custody, information based on an RCMP press release, but he was released.]
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It was just after noon on Jan. 26 when Richardson is alleged to have struck two vehicles near the TD Bank on Yale Road and Princess Avenue.
A Chilliwack RCMP officer noticed the erratic driving and pursued. The black GMC pickup truck travelled north on Yale, turned left onto Princess Avenue and ended up on the sidewalk between street trees right next to the Chilliwack Law Courts.
Chilliwack RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mike Rail said officers descended on the scene, taking two individuals into custody.
Richardson, however, took off but was apprehended a few minutes later on First Avenue just east of Young Road.
“Fortunately no one was injured in the collisions,” Rail said. “An alert officer observing the driving behaviour of the suspect vehicle and the timely deployment of police resources were responsible for the apprehension.”
Richardson’s next scheduled appearance in Chilliwack court is Feb. 13.
Richardson has a short criminal history in the Fraser Valley. He currently faces a trial March 20 in Abbotsford Provincial Court for allegedly resisting arrest and two counts of probation breaches for a Dec. 6, 2016 incident in Mission.
He also faces numerous breach charges stemming back from an alleged disobeyance of a court order on an assault file from September 2015. He is alleged to have breached on that file more than half a dozen times since then.
He’s been on a two-year probation order since he was found guilty on June 8, 2016 of assault and unlawfully being in a dwelling for an incident on Feb. 1, 2016.
• READ MORE: Lunch-hour drama downtown Chilliwack ends with arrest, pickup truck on sidewalk
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