By Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck

The last week witnessed the Columbia Valley RCMP respond to about 55 calls for service; last year that number was around 65.  The following is a summary of a couple of the more interesting calls.

Theft from Invermere store

On February 7, Columbia Valley RCMP received a report of theft from Syndicate Board Shop in Invermere. The theft, which had occurred on February 5, surrounded a person who entered the shop and stole an iPhone 6 which had a value of over $250. Police are asking for assistance in identifying the female pictured right who is alleged to have information regarding the theft.

One injured in towing incident

During the morning hours of February 8, Columbia Valley RCMP was dispatched to a motor vehicle incident just east of the Kootenay National Park entrance outside of Radium Hot Springs.

A tractor-trailer had broken down and was being towed with its front end off the ground.  As the tractor-trailer was being towed with the semi-driver in the cab the towing cable snapped causing the front end of the semi to slam down and hit the pavement. The dropped cab seemingly injured the semi-operator resulting in a suspected back injury.  Invermere Fire and Rescue and BC Ambulance personnel came to the scene and were able to safely extract the driver and get him some medical assistance.

Car-boarding visitors brought up to speed

On February 8, at about 8:30 p.m., Columbia Valley RCMP received a call surrounding some dangerous activity. The complainant reported that there were some people snowboarding while being towed behind a silver vehicle in Fairmont Hot Springs.

Police attended and located the vehicle and spoke with the driver; a native of New Zealand.  It was explained to the young man that he and his friends could not participate in the activity because of the obvious danger it posed to their personal health and surrounding property.  The young man and his friends apologized and went onto safer, more legal activities.

Impaired driver loses van for 30 days, licence for 90

During the very early morning hours of February 10, Columbia Valley RCMP was on routine patrol when a red Dodge Caravan drove past them at the highway intersection of Highway 93/95 near the Tim Hortons.

The passenger was displaying some odd behaviour so the officer wanted to make sure everything was okay.  As police followed behind the Caravan it was noted to take a sharp turn into a nearby hotel parking lot then a second sharp turn in an appearance to avoid police. The officer also noted the rear driver signal was malfunctioning as it did not indicate while the front one was activated.

A traffic stop was initiated and the driver pulled over. As soon as the officer started speaking with the male driver he could detect an odour of liquor coming from the driver’s breath.  The driver admitted to having two drinks before getting behind the wheel.  Consequently, the driver was asked to provide a breath sample into an approved screening device, the male complied and the sample resulted in a “Fail.”  The driver declined the opportunity to provide a second sample to the officer so the police had no choice but to seize his licence and prohibit him from driving for 90 days while seizing the minivan for 30 days.

Drivers passing school busses

We are still receiving a number of complaints surrounding vehicles passing school buses while the ‘stop sign’ and red lights are engaged. We are reminding everyone to please be vigilant around school buses, especially when stopped with lights flashing.

We encourage you to take some extra time to ensure the children in the Columbia Valley remain safe.

If you are witnessed passing a school bus when the emergency lights are engaged you will receive a violation ticket of $368.

– Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck is commander of the Columbia Valley RCMP Detachment

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