An off duty Nanaimo RCMP officer is being credited with averting a potential tragedy after a woman was found Thursday morning passed out at the steering wheel with her car running, still in reverse and parked precariously close to a pre-school.
Corporal Dean Muir and his wife were about to pick up their child from a pre-school located at the Beban Park recreation center at about 11:15 a.m. when they noticed a woman slumped over the steering wheel of a newer model van.
They also noticed the back up lights of her van were on and that she was parked next to the pre-school, which was preparing to release upwards of 24 children to waiting parents.
The driver’s door was locked and all the windows were rolled up.
Muir, initially thinking the female was in medical distress, called 911 and requested an ambulance attend.
The woman soon responded to his shouts and banging on her window and managed to open her door.
Muir quickly shut off her vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition. By her movements and speech, Muir’s assessment of the situation soon shifted from thinking it was a medical call to the possibility the female may be impaired by alcohol.
BC Ambulance arrived and assessed her but found no medical cause for her condition.
On duty RCMP officers soon arrived and commenced an impaired driving investigation. The 48-year-old Qualicum Beach woman was then taken to the Nanaimo RCMP Detachment, where she provided two breath samples, which police say far exceeded the legal limit set for impaired driving.
Nanaimo RCMP released the woman to a sober person later in the day and are recommending charges of care and control while under the influence of alcohol under the Criminal Code. She is scheduled to appear in B.C> provincial court in Nanaimo on May 15.
The same female was involved just six days earlier in another impaired driving incident in Qualicum Beach.
In that situation, on Feb. 10th at 4 p.m., she was suspected of driving her car into a ditch, near the intersection of Bay St. and Highway 19A.
Parksville RCMP are recommending impaired driving charges with her first court appearance is set for May 8 in Nanaimo.
