Hitting fire hydrant least of driver's worries

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Kamloops RCMP are recommending charges of public mischief, impaired driving, driving with a blood-alcohol level in excess of .08 and dangerous driving against a 27-year-old Kamloops man.

The charges stem from an incident on the weekend that ended with a vehicle hitting a fire hydrant.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said an officer in the Brocklehurst area saw a 2003 Honda Accord speeding in the area of Tranquille Road and Desmond Street on Sunday, Jan. 20, at about 8:30 p.m.

Learned said radar clocked the vehicle's speed at more than 90 km/h.

The officer turned and tried to catch the vehicle and, when it went through a red light and rounded a curve heading west, the officer followed, only to find the vehicle had crossed the road and hit the hydrant.

Other officers were called to the scene and found two men walking in the area of Valdes Drive and Happyvale Avenue. One man was stopped, while the other fled through backyards in the area. He was found in a field near the Twin Rivers Education Centre on Holt Street.

Learned said the man is the owner of the car, which had been fitted with an ignition-interlock device. Such devices are installed when a driver has a record of drinking and driving. It requires a breath sample and can prevent a vehicle from starting if the person providing the sample has been drinking.

Learned said the man told officers he fled because he was being chased by  armed suspects who had stolen his car, but the story did not match the one given to police by the other man, who had been the passenger in the vehicle.

A police dog was brought to the spot where the man was stopped and tracked it back to the vehicle. Officers noted only one set of footprints visible to the point where the man had fled.

The man was released on Monday, Jan. 21, on a promise to appear in court at a late date.