Oak Bay Police impounded a black Ford Mustang after the driver was spotted burning “doughnuts” in the Save-On-Foods parking lot off Foul Bay Road at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday night.
The driver was so aggressive the wheels of the car were seen “lifting from the road surface,” said Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties.
“The vehicle was observed spinning three times,” Bernoties said. “At the time there were numerous shoppers about.”
Police later spotted the driver and were able to issue them a ticket for driving without consideration and impound the car for seven days.
There are good donuts & bad donuts. Saturday around 8pm we saw a car doing "donuts" in a busy grocery store parking lot on Foul Bay😡just outside #OakBay. That's dangerous! The driver was issued a ticket & his car was impounded for 7 days.🚔Yeah, we take donuts pretty seriously. pic.twitter.com/BoUakmhebq
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) December 16, 2019
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The Mustang was the first of two car impoundments overnight Saturday. Later, at 1:25 a.m. on Sunday, police conducted a routine traffic stop. It resulted in the driver being issued a 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition for driving under the influence of alcohol and a 30-day vehicle impoundment, Bernoties said.
The car impoundments were two of the calls Oak Bay police responded during the week of Dec. 9 to 15.
Theft continued to hassle Oak Bay residents including two incidents of vehicle owners reporting they had belongings removed from unlocked cars. It appears a suspect entered three unlocked vehicles early on Sunday (Dec. 15) in the 500-block of St. Patrick Street, and two in the 1100-1200 block of Roslyn Road.
“As these appear to be crimes of opportunity, the Oak Bay police are reminding residents to lock their vehicles as a deterrent to such activity,” Bernoties said.
As of late November, Oak Bay police had counted 113 thefts from vehicles but only two reported forced entry, such as a broken window or door lock. Of the 113 vehicles entered, 37 had spare change taken, nine were unaware of anything missing and the rest (67) had valuables stolen.
“The [Oak Bay police] employee who reads and concludes all of these files estimates that about two vehicles a year either have a lock broken or a window broken and there were always valuables visible,” Bernoties said.
Oak Bay also had a couple of mischief reports of rocks thrown at car windows, but without entry, Bernoties added.
The number of vehicles is also conservative and under-reported as many people whose cars are entered don’t bother reporting.
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There were two other reports of theft last week. In broad daylight at 9:40 a.m. on Saturday a male with a shopping cart broke into the outside storage of the Fairway Market on Oak Bay Avenue. He used a tool to cut a metal lock closure and removed six bags of recycled empties. He then placed them in a shopping cart and walked off.
“The male suspect was wearing a [camouflage] jacket with YRLA logo on the back and sleeves,” Bernoties shared.
And for the second straight week (on Wednesday) a parent reported the theft of a stroller. This time it was from their carport on Hampshire Road. The stroller is a double-Chariot, burgundy in colour with black markings and white sheepskin inside.
The Oak Bay police remind everyone consuming drugs or alcohol during the festive season to make safe rides part of their party plans.
If the public can help identify suspects or have information on the unsolved files, please contact the Oak Bay police at 250 592-2424.
