VANCOUVER -- Mounties in Burnaby are praising the actions of an "alert citizen" who helped them locate and arrest an allegedly impaired driver who had two children in the car with him.
The arrest happened around 5 p.m. on Jan. 2. Police received a call from a member of the public who had noticed a vehicle moving as though its driver was impaired.
The citizen first noticed the driver while driving on Highway 1 near Langley, Burnaby RCMP said in a release. The man followed the driver "for a significant distance," providing police with updates on the driver's behaviour along the way.
Police located the vehicle at the intersection of Eastlake and Beaverbrook drives, where they say the driver had been involved in a rear-end collision with another vehicle. There were no serious injuries as a result of that collision, police said.
Officers followed the driver, who they say did not initially stop when they tried to pull him over. He eventually stopped in a cul de sac on Eastlake Drive, where he was arrested and taken into custody for driving while impaired, police said.
Burnaby RCMP officers and representatives from the detachment's Victims Services Unit looked after the man's two young children until they were picked up by a family member, police said.
"Along with an alert citizen, our officers were able to prevent a collision that could potentially have had unthinkable consequences," said Cpl. Mike Kalanj in the release. "We are very thankful to the citizen who did not try to get involved or stop the vehicle himself, but instead ensured that we had accurate information on where the vehicle was going."
Police said the driver, a 44-year-old man, faces several charges, including driving while impaired, driving with a suspended licence and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
