Two car accidents in as many days, not to mention criminal mischief and drunk driving, plague Castlegar
By Castlegar Source
Police are reporting car crashes and mischief as the week unfolds, according to Castlegar RCMP Sgt. Laurel Mathew.
She said today (Tuesday) at roughly 10:15 a.m., Castlegar RCMP responded to an accident in which a 42-year-old man from the Island was exiting Columbia Ave via the on-ramp near the Chevron station towards the Kinnaird Bridge.
“He decided to make a u-turn around the small cement barricade just on the off ramp,” she said. “As he turned back up the on ramp, he struck a motorcycle that was stopped at the lights. The 58-year-old passenger from the motorcycle suffered a sore leg and hip and was taken to Trail hospital for assessment. The driver of the SUV which struck the motorcycle was charged with making an illegal u-turn under the Motor Vehicle Act. ”
She said this came after a four-car fender-bender on Kinnaird Bridge yesterday.
“On July 30 at (roughly 2:30 p.m., Castlegar RCMP responded to a four-vehicle accident on the Kinnaird Bridge. A vehicle being driven by a 31- year-old Castlegar man failed to stop behind the line up of traffic on the bridge, and rear ended the vehicle in front of him that was stopped. The second vehicle, in turn, struck the vehicle in front of him, and at the same time the nose of his vehicle was pushed out into traffic and the fourth car, which was travelling in the opposite direction, was struck as well.
“Only the driver of the first vehicle suffered minor injuries. He was charged with driving without consideration under the Motor Vehicle Act.”
Also of concern, she said, were incidents of vandalism in the past two days.
“Castlegar RCMP are investigating a substantial amount of mischief which occurred overnight on July 30. At least nine vehicles along Sixth Avenue were struck with what is believed to be pellets from a pellet gun, damaging windows and windshields. Most of the damage occurred to the transport trucks that were parked at Clark Freight Ways.
“It appears that some aim was taken to target windshields of the vehicles, and that this was not simply random firing of pellets.”
She said police are viewing video surveillance from businesses in the area to try to determine who might be responsible for this willful damage. If anyone has any information, they are asked to call the Castlegar RCMP.
“The Castlegar RCMP officers were also busy this past weekend getting drinking drivers off the road. Thirteen drivers lost their licences to either a three-day IRP, 90-day IRP, Criminal Code Impaired driving, and two lost their licences for driving while under the influence of drugs. A few of these drivers were from out-of-province, but most were either local drivers, or at least from B.C. ”
