UPDATE: 3:45 p.m.
A significant police chase near the Peterson Creek Bridge and into the Sagebrush neighbourhood, near downtown Kamloops, has ended with a suspect being arrested in a compost bin.
Const. Crystal Evelyn says it all started when a theft from a retail store was reported in the 500-block of Notre Dame Drive just after 12:15 p.m. The man fled with several-hundred dollars worth of merchandise in a Dodge truck that police confirmed had been stolen.
Evelyn says an RCMP helicopter was called in because the truck was driving erratically around the city.
One witness named Andrew says he say the chase unfold; he says he was stopped at light near Summit Drive and Notre Dame Drive, with several cop cars around, before a silver Dodge truck next to him took off.
“And then he hits the gas, almost clips the front end of my truck off, going the wrong way down the highway. So he went along the Sahali high school there going the wrong way down the highway. Crashed into about five cars and trucks, and then went up onto the ditch and went running down the hill from the cops there,” Andrew says.
“And then I had to loop around and go down the highway, and then I went past the crash and there was about five passenger vehicles, a single lane going down the hill. But then the truck goes over the ditch and that’s why the cops were looking by the Sagebrush.”
Andrew described the suspect as being bald, with a black bandana and a puffy jacket.
After that, Evelyn says the suspect took off on foot towards the Sagebrush neighbourhood, and she says South Kam Secondary and the Kamloops School of the Arts were put in a hold-and-secure pattern while police canvassed the area.
Witnesses reported upwards of nine police cruisers and a K-9 unit involved in the ground search.
Nearby resident Brenda Muliner described to NL News what she saw when the search started.
“I saw three police officers and they came running with weapons. That was kind of scary. They were going at high speed. There was quite a few cop cars here, I think I saw eight. The tactical helicopter was flying around it looks like, so yeah, it was pretty surprising, because its a pretty quiet neighbourhood and all of a sudden, all this going on.”
Evelyn says the suspect was eventually found in a compost bin in the 800-block of Robinson Crescent and taken into custody. She says the investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Trans-Canada Highway is back open to a single-lane westbound at the Peterson Creek Bridge following the truck crash, according to DriveBC.
The highway is fully open eastbound coming down the hill, but at time of posting, traffic is moving slowly in both directions.
– with files from Bill Cowen and Jeff Andreas
OPEN TO SINGLE LANE https://t.co/S3j8Yru6lI
— DriveBC (@DriveBC) January 19, 2021