Kelowna, BC – In the early morning hours of April 15, 2023, Kelowna RCMP received a complaint that a white Dodge pickup truck was stolen sometime overnight from a residence located in the 1000 block of Keyes Road in Kelowna.
Just after midnight on April 17, 2023, police received a call from a vigilant citizen who believed a white Dodge pickup truck was casing residences and driving erratically in a cul de sac located in the 100 block of Gemini Road. Descriptions and license plate confirmed this to be the same truck stolen two days prior.
Officers later located the truck and on several occasions observed unprovoked dangerous driving behaviour including excessive speeds and hopping over curbs, nearly causing several collisions with other civilian vehicles.
At approximately 2:00 a.m., the driver of the stolen truck deliberately swerved across three lanes including the yellow centre line traveling westbound on Springfield Road in what appeared to be a perpetrated attempt at colliding head on with a patrolling police vehicle travelling eastbound. If not for the officer’s quick reaction, the truck would have undoubtedly caused a serious high-speed collision possibly grievously injuring or killing the police officer.
Based on this extreme escalation of risk that the driver of the truck posed to the public and police officer, police engaged in a pursuit to stop the truck and restore public safety. At approximately 2:40 a.m., RCMP relocated the vehicle heading west on Highway 97. With emergency equipment activated, officers were successful in stopping the truck along the centre median of Harvey Avenue, just east of Pandosy Street.
Officers immediately arrested the driver and identify him as being known to police. The second suspect and passenger was observed to also be male and attempted to flee on foot. Following containment and with the assistance of the Kelowna RCMP Police Dog Services, the man was found hiding nearby shortly afterwards and also taken into custody.
“These two individuals demonstrated a wanton disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the general public and the police officers who put themselves at risk to bring this dangerous situation to a safe conclusion,” said Inspector Beth McAndie Officer in Charge of Investigational Services for the Kelowna RCMP Regional Detachment.
Both suspects who have criminal histories were remanded into custody and appearing today in court, Monday, April 17, 2023.
If you witnessed this event and/or have video evidence of what happened, please contact the Kelowna RCMP at (250) 762-3300 and reference file number 2023-20115.
File # 2023-20115
Kelowna RCMP
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