Police officers’ lives put at risk by stolen vehicle suspect

Police say two men with criminal histories were arrested after a dangerous pursuit with a stolen pickup truck in Kelowna.

RCMP received a complaint that a white Dodge pickup truck had been stolen overnight on Sunday, April 16 from a residence in the 1000 block of Keyes Road in Kelowna.

Just after midnight on Monday (April 17), police received a call from a citizen who believed a white Dodge pickup truck was casing residences and driving erratically in a cul de sac in the 100 block of Gemini Road. Descriptions and the licence plate confirmed it to be the same truck stolen the day before.

“Officers later located the truck, and on several occasions, observed unprovoked dangerous driving behaviour including excessive speeds and hopping over curbs, nearly causing several collisions with other civilian vehicles,” Const. Mike Della-Paolera stated.

At around 2 a.m., Della-Paolera said the driver of the stolen truck deliberately swerved across three lanes traveling westbound on Springfield Road in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt at colliding head on with a patrolling police vehicle travelling eastbound.

“If not for the officer’s quick reaction, the truck would have undoubtedly caused a serious high-speed collision possibly grievously injuring or killing the police officer,” the media spokesperson stated.

Mounties say based on the extreme escalation of risk that the driver of the truck posed to the public and police, officers engaged in a pursuit to stop the truck and restore public safety.

“At approximately 2:40 a.m., RCMP relocated the vehicle heading west on Highway 97. With emergency equipment activated, officers were successful in stopping the truck along the centre median of Harvey Avenue, just east of Pandosy Street,” Della-Paolera explained.

Officers arrested the driver and identified him as being known to police.

“The second suspect and passenger was observed to also be male and attempted to flee on foot. Following containment and with the assistance of the Kelowna RCMP Police Dog Services, the man was found hiding nearby shortly afterwards and also taken into custody,” the officer added.

“These two individuals demonstrated a wanton disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the general public and the police officers who put themselves at risk to bring this dangerous situation to a safe conclusion,” Inspector Beth McAndie of the Kelowna RCMP regional detachment, said.

Both suspects, who have criminal histories, were remanded into custody and are appearing in court today.

Anyone who witnessed the event and/or have video evidence of what happened, is asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP at (250) 762-3300 and reference file number 2023-20115.