VANCOUVER -- RCMP say a suspected impaired driver sheared off a fire hydrant and banged up several parked cars in southeast Burnaby before Mounties caught up with him and took him to jail.
It happened around midnight Friday on Marine Drive near Royal Oak Avenue.
Witnesses report hearing several crashes and a loud screeching sound at that intersection and say when they emerged from their homes to see what was going on, they saw a dark-coloured SUV reverse into a parked car and then roar off down the street.
"I heard a really loud crash and whole bunch of screeching,” said Asia Bailey, who lives at the intersection. “And then I came up and there was a black SUV over there. They hit the hydrant and the they were backing into that car and then they just took off."
The torrent of water gushing from the busted fire hydrant flooded Bailey’s basement along with that of her neighbor Baldev Basra, who says his home sustained several thousand dollars in damage.
"Inside, we cleaned it as much as we could last night. We tried to save it. But my hardwood floor is all damaged,” he said.
Mounties caught up with the suspected drunk driver a short distance away.
Video of a maroon Cadillac Escalade shows part of the bumper torn off, and at least one wheel missing.
Basra says he’s grateful the RCMP managed to catch the driver before anyone was seriously injured.
"It makes me angry. It's a good thing I didn't see the guy,” he joked. “Maybe I should go after him."
Burnaby RCMP say a 61-year-old man faces charges for refusing to provide a breath sample and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
