A man has been arrested after a stolen car with an allegedly impaired driver caused several accidents in Kamloops this morning.

Sgt. Jeff Bingley says the commotion started when someone called Mounties about a suspicious vehicle. Another report came in of a potentially impaired driver after the driver hit a parked car.

Bingley says the driver crashed that car into a pole, and fled on foot before stealing a silver Honda Civic from a mechanic’s shop. He says the driver hit a police officer, and says Mounties did not pursue the driver because of the risk to the public.

He says bystanders saw the vehicle driving erratically, before it side-swiped another car.

The driver then fled southbound on the Coquihalla, and travelled through Logan Lake before getting to Merritt. There, Bingley says the driver was arrested, after being tracked by a police chopper and officers from Merritt and Kamloops RCMP detachments.

Bingley says charges are expected to laid against the suspect. He says that person was on parole which has now been suspended.