An 18-year-old driver arrested after the crash Saturday, was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, according to the Ridge Meadows RCMP.
In the early morning hours, around 1 a.m., on Sept. 11, a Ridge Meadows officer was working a shift for the Impaired Driving Enforcement Initiative, coined by the detachment as ‘Project Domino Effect’ and was looking for an erratic driver after reports of such a driver in the area of 12100-block of Cherrywood Drive emerged.
While on patrol, the officer’s police vehicle was struck by an alleged impaired driver, suspected to be the erratic driver that Police were attempting to locate.
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One witness had told The News that a car with one occupant ran into two other vehicles while driving backwards at high speed, then attempted to flee the scene and hit another car, then slammed into a police vehicle.
The driver had been speeding up and down the street and revving his engine, and when residents of Cherrywood attempted to keep him from leaving, he put his car into reverse.
“He went back so fast for 200, 300 feet,” said the witness, who chose to remain unidentified.
After hitting the police car, “he fell out his car, going ‘sorry, sorry, sorry,’” the witness described.
The driver, a Maple Ridge man, was arrested and transported to hospital as a precaution.
“The officer sustained non-life threatening injures as a result of the collision” said Const. Julie Klaussner. “The prevention of collisions like these is the reason why this initiative continues to be a priority for this detachment and will continue to be a priority going forward.”
“At the end of the day we want all our citizens and police officers to make it home safely to their loved ones and families,” she said.
The investigation is still ongoing and according to the RCMP, there are no further details available at this time.
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Is there more to the story? Email: priyanka.ketkar@mapleridgenews.com
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