Search KelownaNow
A report of a man sleeping behind the wheel turned into a police chase from Glenmore to Lake Country today.
Kelowna RCMP received word of the man, who was asleep behind the wheel of his idling vehicle in Wilden, around 10 a.m.
When an officer approached the car and knocked on the window to wake him up, the driver didn’t comply with the request to shut off the car’s engine.
He didn’t comply with that request and instead put the car in drive and fled the scene, hitting a police officer, who suffered minor injuries, in the process.
Hitting the officer didn’t stop the driver either, as he took off towards Lake Country, where he was intercepted by members of the Lake Country RCMP.
After a 10 minute pursuit in Lake Country, the suspect drove over a spike belt that officers had deployed, which deflated some of his vehicle’s tires.
He continued on, however, collided with a marked police vehicle before ending up in a ditch.
After a short pursuit on foot, which led officers into the bush, the man was apprehended and arrested.
The driver was cleared medically and brought into police custody, where he awaits a court appearance.
He’ll likely face charges of dangerous driving, fleeing from police and assaulting a police officer, among others.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.