A Surrey woman arrested in connection with a police pursuit caught on video last week in North Kamloops is facing a raft of criminal charges.
Kersten Ina Peters was arrested in the Fraser Valley on Friday, Dec. 6, hours after cellphone video footage shared on social media showed a white Lexus smashing into vehicles in a Kamloops parking lot.
At the time, police said the suspect fled in the damaged vehicle, which was later found at the Canadian Tire store in Dufferin.
Peters was arrested in Chilliwack on Friday night.
The 21-year-old Surrey woman is facing one count each of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, assaulting a peace office with a weapon, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer and failing to stop, as well as two counts of possession of stolen property.
Peters, who is in custody, is slated to appear in Surrey provincial court on Dec. 17 for a bail hearing.
Police had been searching for the woman since about 12:30 p.m. on Friday, when the driver of the stolen Lexus eluded police in a daring escape from a gas station parking lot in North Kamloops that involved damage to multiple vehicles.
RCMP plainclothes officers came across the vehicle, previously reported stolen from Surrey, while conducting an unrelated investigation in the 200-block of Tranquille Road.
Officers attempted to open the doors of the vehicle in the parking lot between the Canco Petroleum gas station and Mr. Lube, but the driver took off, ramming the vehicle through a number of parked vehicles in the process.
Video of the escape was posted online. In it, one officer can be seen attempting to break the window of the vehicle as it reverses into a dumpster and at least one car. Two officers can be seen with pistols drawn.
The vehicle sped away with a missing front bumper and a mirror hanging off its side.
Officers eventually caught up to the stolen vehicle, abandoned in the Canadian Tire parking lot at 1441 Hillside Drive in Dufferin.
Social media reports from witnesses noted the driver was seen running along Hillside Drive, flagging down vehicles while checking her phone. One witness said a vehicle drove by, pulled a U-turn and picked her up.
Tim Petruk, Kamloops This Week
