A 34-year-old Kelowna woman has been charged in connection with a Christmas Day robbery and car crash that injured a Burnaby, B.C., Mountie.
Police say a woman rammed a stolen car into a marked Burnaby RCMP vehicle at a road block shortly after robbing an Agassiz Esso Station at gunpoint around 7:30 p.m.
The Burnaby RCMP officer laid down a spike belt on Highway 1 near Whatcom Road after attempts to stop the suspect vehicle in Agassiz and Chilliwack failed.
The belt caught two of the tires. The vehicle then veered left and crash into the RCMP car.
The officer inside the vehicle suffered head and hip injuries. The 18-year veteran, recently promoted to corporal, was released from hospital Sunday.
Jolene Andersen is charged with robbery in Agassiz, failure to stop for a police officer in Chilliwack and failing to stop causing bodily harm in Vancouver.
She remains in custody until her next court appearance in Chilliwack Tuesday.
Cpl. Peter Thiessen said the officer is recovering at home and is looking forward to returning to duty.
He says investigators are still trying to determine if Andersen is connected with another armed robbery that took place in Kamloops several hours before the Agassiz incident.
