Police are recommending several charges against a driver who allegedly sped away from a roadblock and crashed in West Vancouver Wednesday night.
The vehicle was approaching an impaired driving roadblock at Cypress Bowl Road and Chippendale Drive when it made a sudden U-turn and sped away before losing control on the sharp curve, police said.
A police officer on a motorcycle was also forced to drive into a ditch to avoid hitting the oncoming suspect vehicle. The officer suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Lions Gate Hospital where he was treated and released.
The driver, a 20-year-old Burnaby man, was served a 12-hour driving prohibition and charges are pending. Four passengers in the vehicle were released at the crash location. Neither the driver nor the passengers required medical attention.
The roadblock was part of additional impaired driving enforcements set up around the city during the Celebration of Light fireworks competition.
Vancouver Police Const. Brian Montague said there were only a few arrests made throughout the night in Vancouver along with several hundred liquor pour outs. Three people were taken into custody and two officers were pepper sprayed. Montague said the pepper spraying incident was minor as the officers were not badly injured.
About 300,000 people flocked to Vancouver beaches to take in Australia’s exhibition in the second of three displays. The final night of the musical fireworks competition takes place on Saturday with a show by Team U.S.A. Montague said up to 500,000 spectators could attend.
