Mounties say mother comes clean about crash ‘lie’

Police say they caught a mother trying to cover up for her son after a two-vehicle crash in Salmon Arm.

RCMP received a report from a man on the night of Jan. 31 that a blue Jeep Compass had just struck his semi on Highway 1 at Shuswap Street.

Police attended and found the Jeep with major front-end damage, while the semi had damage to a rear axel and fuel tank.

“The semi driver advised police the driver and two other occupants in the Jeep had run away on foot,” Const. Andrew Hodges said.

Police obtained photos of the scene and surveillance footage from a nearby business that supported the semi driver’s claims that his truck was west bound with a green light on Highway 1, and the Jeep was southbound on Shuswap Street and ran a red light and hit him, and the Jeep occupants then fled on foot.

“About 30 minutes after the collision, the mother of the registered owner of the Jeep reported the vehicle stolen,” Hodges stated.

Police spoke with the mother where she stated the Jeep was parked outside her residence and then was gone. She also stated she had called her son on his cellphone and he didn’t know where the vehicle was.

“Police advised that was unlikely as his phone was still in the vehicle and police were observing phone calls coming from mom. The mother then came clean about her lie, and was cautioned for criminal public mischief,” Hodges said.

The mother then advised her 22-year-old son was driving and crashed, that he was OK, but she did not know where he was.

The 22-year-old driver of the Jeep was located the next day and was served violation tickets for failing to remain at scene of an accident, failing to obey red light at intersection, failing to display N, and driving contrary to a restriction.