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Thefts, domestic assaults and Highway 1 collisions keep Sicamous RCMP busy

Final report for 2019 shows increase in calls to detachment
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The last three months of 2019 saw the Sicamous RCMP deal with a number of crimes including break and enters and assaults, as well as some serious highway collisions.

A quarterly report released by the detachment details their actions between October and December. Overall calls to the Sicamous RCMP detachment were up to 455, compared to the 395 received in the same months of the previous year.

Among the matters which police dealt with were two separate domestic assaults and another case of assault with a weapon involving two youths shooting a pellet gun at a neighbour; criminal charges were approved in all three incidents.

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A string of break and enters occupied police attention on Nov. 12 and 13. In four separate incidents thieves targeted storage units on Hillier Road, a house in Mara, a boat storage facility on Old Town Road and a shed on Boutwell Avenue.

Other thefts included a skid steer that was taken from a rural property in Malakwa on Oct. 10, and the theft of two ski boats and a dirt bike from the underground parking garage of a condo on Riverside Avenue. A suspect was identified in the theft of the boats and dirt bike but, according to the police quarterly report, he recently passed away in an unrelated matter.

Also noted in the report was a reduction in the number of impaired riving suspensions given out by the RCMP. Only one immediate roadside prohibition was issued for the entire quarter as police took a drunk driver off the road in November 2019.

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There were five collisions that resulted in injuries in the last quarter. None were fatal and all took place on the Trans-Canada Highway. The two most serious collisions took place in late December. On Dec. 18 a semi truck crashed into the highway-side ditch near Bernie Road west of Sicamous, likely due to the driver falling asleep. According to a police report the day after the crash, two men were in the truck when it left the road. The driver suffered minor injuries and was able to free himself while the other man in the cab’s sleeper was trapped inside. According to the quarterly report, the second man was freed by Eagle Valley Rescue and suffered injuries to his legs.

Two days later, on Dec. 20, a tow truck driver was seriously injured after his truck was struck on the Trans-Canada Highway near Malakwa. The driver of the pickup truck that struck the tow truck has been charged under the Motor Vehicle Act.



jim.elliot@saobserver.net

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Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
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