Stolen Vehicle Suspect Involved in Crash

A crash on the highway north of Vernon earlier this week, involved a stolen vehicle.

Police say a Ford F-250 pickup was stolen in Lumby Monday morning, and after being tracked by police, it was eventually involved in an accident near the Swan Lake interchange.

The suspect had tried to make a U-turn across four lanes of the highway, and hit another motorist.

The man driving the hit vehicle was a retired RCMP member who was able to hold the suspect until police arrived.

A 26 year old man is facing charges from the incident which resulted in minor injuries to him and a passenger in the other vehicle.

RCMP news release: Aug. 1

Man arrested in stolen vehicle after collision on Hwy 97

The Vernon North-Okanagan RCMP arrested a male following the theft of truck in Lumby. The suspect was involved in collision with another motorist shortly after being located by police.

On Monday July 31, 2017, at approximately 8:13 AM, the Vernon-North Okanagan in Lumby received a report that a grey 2003 Ford F250 pick-up had been stolen sometime overnight. At 10:30 am, a second report was received stating that the stolen truck had been located and was being followed by a witness on Hwy 97. It was relayed that the stolen truck had pulled over and was stopped near the off-ramp at Highway 97 and Highway 97a.

RCMP officers attended the location and boxed the truck in with two marked police vehicles in efforts to stop it from driving away. At that moment the driver pushed the lead police car out of the way and fled northwest. The second involved officer made an attempt to stop the stolen truck however quickly noted that the driver was not going to stop and disengaged his attempts to stop it.

The officer eventually lost sight of the suspect from his parked vantage point at roadside. An unmarked Police Dog Service vehicle was in the area and located the truck on Highway 97 heading southeast on Highway 97. The officer followed the suspect who appeared to be unaware that it was a police vehicle following him.

The stolen truck was followed from a distance and observed to be driving normally at highway speeds. No attempts were made to stop it and the officer lost view of the vehicle as it merged onto Highway 97a.

As the Police Service Dog member merged onto the highway, he located a collision scene just ahead which involved the stolen truck. The suspect from the stolen truck was found to have exited the truck and was attempting to steal a vehicle that had stopped at the scene. The male driver of this second vehicle, who was a retired RCMP member, was able to subdue the suspect until the Police Service officer arrived and arrested the male.

The 26 yr old subject was taken into custody. Witnesses stated that the suspect had attempted to make a u-turn across four lanes of the highway and collided with the other motorist. The passenger of the civilian vehicle involved in the collision suffered minor injuries as did the suspect.

The suspect was treated and released at hospital and remained in custody for a court appearance on August 1st.