A Nanoose Bay couple woke up to a yard full of smashed glass, twisted metal, first responders and flashing lights on Monday night, after a stolen vehicle smashed into their son’s car, which was parked in the driveway.
According to Oceanside RCMP, the stolen vehicle was a 2015 Subaru Forester, which crashed into a red 2002 Acura. The Acura was unoccupied and parked on the driveway of Marcy Sjostrom’s home, just off the northbound lanes of the Island Highway in Nanoose Bay.
The Subaru had been reported stolen out of the Langford area on Oct. 20. The Acura belonged to Sjostrom’s son, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
The incident was captured on Sjostrom’s home security camera.
It appears the driver of the stolen vehicle ran away on foot at first. Cpl. Jesse Foreman with the Oceanside RCMP say they called in search dogs, who were able to track the suspect’s scent to the nearby Petro-Canada gas station.
“It looks like he was picked up by another vehicle,” said Foreman.
Sjostrom was fast asleep when the crash occurred. She woke up to police knocking on her door at approximately 1 a.m.
“We were pretty rattled all day,” said Sjostrom.
She says the vehicle first hit her neighbour’s fence panel, then her son’s car, with the force of the impact sending both cars straight into a large pile of dirt in front of her house that was being used for construction purposes.
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The pile of dirt was supposed to have been cleared a month ago, but their contractor had to delay the work for a month after an injury. Sjostrom says without that pile of dirt, the vehicles would have gone straight into her mother’s property next door.
“Things happen for a reason, that’s why we still have the dirt,” said Sjostrom.
Both vehicles were demolished. Police say speed was a factor in the crash.
“The vehicle looked like it was doing a really high rate of speed when it was – in that surveillance footage. They probably were racing down the highway and couldn’t negotiate that curve, when it hit 60,” said Foreman.
Police say that area of Island Highway can be a high-risk zone for speeding. The speed limit dips from 90 km/h to 60 km/h while passing through Nanoose Bay.
“We’ve had a significant number of crashes over the years, and that’s why the speed limit there goes down to 60. It is
an ICBC-noted high crash zone,” said Foreman.
Sjostrom is counting her lucky stars that no one was in her son’s vehicle at the time.
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“No one was hurt, that’s all I cared about. It’s just basically metal, plastic, and glass, everybody walked away,” said Sjostrom.
She also has a renewed respect for the day-to-day risks first responders face.
“It just gives you more perspective as to what the police, fire, and ambulance – what they all go to on an accident scene… I think we’re so grateful that there were no bodies – but I couldn’t imagine if there was… I do feel for the people that actually do that as a job,” said Sjostrom.
“I thank the people that actually do go to those sites and deal with that trauma – that’s huge.”
The matter remains under investigation.
– With a file from Cloe Logan
