Red Deer RCMP arrested two women for separate impaired driving incidents in the early hours of Saturday morning thanks to tips from the public and after one of the suspect vehicles crashed into a cement flowerbed downtown.
Shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 9th, RCMP responded to a report of a collision in the downtown after a Chevrolet Silverado driving northbound in the left lane of 49th Ave. drove through the Ross St. intersection and onto a raised cement flowerbed. The 35-year-old female driver was taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries and faces numerous criminal charges including impaired driving.
RCMP were patrolling for the truck before the downtown collision, after a report that a truck had struck another vehicle in a south-end parking lot and driven away despite witnesses’ attempts to flag the vehicle down. After responding to the downtown collision, the RCMP investigation confirmed that the same truck had been involved in both collisions.
Shortly after 2:15 a.m. on Dec. 9th, RCMP responded to a report of an erratic driver in a Jeep Cherokee in the Normandeau neighbourhood; that call was followed almost immediately by a report of a vehicle striking two parked vehicles and a house in the Glendale neighbourhood. RCMP located the suspect vehicle immediately but when officers attempted to execute a traffic stop, the jeep fled. RCMP located the jeep again a short time later as it drove on Kerry Wood Dr.; once again the jeep briefly sped past police before coming to a stop nearby. RCMP executed a high-risk arrest and took a 37-year-old woman into custody. She now faces numerous criminal charges including impaired driving. An eight-year-old boy was in the vehicle at the time of the arrest.
At this point, neither woman’s name can be released by police as the charges against them have not yet been sworn before the courts.
“These are disappointing investigations, and the people involved are incredibly lucky that no one was seriously hurt or killed. Those sort of injuries are sad at any time of the year but during the Christmas season, the tragedy is always magnified and puts a real damper on what should be a joyous time of the year,” said Sgt. Kevin Halwa of the Red Deer RCMP Traffic Unit. “The days of it being social acceptable to drive while impaired are long gone and people, for the most part, really do know better. People are watching for impaired drivers, and they are calling the police.”
-Connolly
