Police are looking for the driver who fled the scene of a crash where firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to free a senior from her vehicle.
Emergency crews were called out a little after 10 p.m. Sunday to Departure Bay Road near Doctors Road, where a luxury SUV and a car were both wrecked in a crash.
Firefighters had to cut the driver’s-side door off the SUV and help the woman onto a stretcher. The 73-year-old was conscious and was taken to hospital with unknown injuries.
Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the collision happened not long after an RCMP officer on patrol near Argyle Avenue and Departure Bay Road clocked the 2005 Honda Civic travelling at 84 kilometres per hour on Departure Bay Road.
“As the member turned his vehicle around, he lost sight of the [car], so he started doing patrols for it,” O’Brien said.
The officer came across the crash and found the two vehicles, both with “severe damage.” The driver of the Civic “was not in the area and appeared to have fled.”
O’Brien said investigators found that the vehicle had been sold within the 48 hours prior to the crash and the previous owner was able to provide investigators with a name.
“The registered owner of the vehicle said that he had sold the vehicle earlier to an individual and we are attempting to follow up with who the vehicle may have been sold to and determine who the driver was,” O’Brien said.
Firefighters needed to cut into the hood of the Honda to power down the car before it was towed. Departure Bay Road in between Randle Road and Strongitharm Avenue was closed in both directions as crews cleared the scene.
The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information about the collision or who has related dash cam video is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP detachment non-emergency line at 250-754-2345 and reference file No. 2021-3761.
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