Police in Nanaimo got help from neighbours to apprehend a man who crashed a car into a parked pickup truck and a house on the weekend.
According to police, Nanaimo RCMP and Nanaimo Fire Rescue were called to Swordfern Road in south Nanaimo shortly after midnight Sunday for a car that hit a parked pickup truck, bounced over a retaining wall and landed in the front yard of a house.
“Neighbours were awakened to a large crash and what they determined was a car, which was proceeding along Extension [Road], came onto Swordfern Road,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. “It hit a parked pickup, hit a retaining wall and it came to rest up against a house.”
O’Brien said the pickup and car each suffered extensive damage and there was minimal damage to the home.
“The driver decided to flee and he was chased by several neighbours who corralled him until police arrived,” O’Brien said. “The driver appeared to be under the influence of a suspected illegal drug.”
The 55-year-old driver was given a roadside suspension and the vehicle, an older model Infinity four-door car, which was borrowed and did not belong to the driver, was towed.
The driver was taken to hospital when he complained of chest pains, possibly from the airbags in the car being deployed from the impact of the collision, O’Brien said.
“So, it was good work on the part of the neighbours,” O’Brien said. “They did not put themselves in harm’s way. There’s strength in numbers. They corralled this individual and didn’t go hands-on, but just stood by until police arrived and dealt with the matter and fortunately nobody was injured other than, marginally, to the driver.”
O’Brien said the driver cannot be named because he was charged – given a 24-hour driving prohibition – under the motor vehicle act and not under the Criminal Code of Canada.
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