Date: Saturday, September 10, 2022
Files: 22-34443, 22-34442, SPD 22-16812
Victoria, BC – VicPD officers are asking for witnesses and those with video to come forward as we continue to investigate reports of a series of dangerous driving incidents that saw a man arrested after officers deployed a Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW) yesterday.
At approximately 3:45 p.m. Friday, Patrol officers began receiving reports that a man was driving a rental vehicle erratically and possibly impaired. At that same time, officers began receiving reports of a series of incidents callers described as road rage or dangerous driving in the Hillside Quadra area. The vehicle and suspect descriptions from these reports matched.
Officers learned that the suspect was recently arrested after allegedly crashing a vehicle head-on into an Oak Bay Police vehicle and two Saanich Police vehicles. In that incident, the driver did not comply with police direction and the assistance of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team and the Integrated Canine Service was required to effectively and safely arrest the driver. That incident remains under investigation by the Saanich Police Department.
Officers responded to the area and began to search for the vehicle and driver.
Officers located the vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The driver refused to stop. In order to lower the risk to the public, officers did not engage in a pursuit.
A short time later, additional responding officers were able to box the driver in at Hillside Avenue and Doncaster Drive. The man exited the vehicle and approached officers. He did not follow officers’ commands and instead began to attempt to fight with them. An officer deployed their CEW, also known as a Taser, which was successful in stopping the suspect. Officers took the suspect into custody without further incident.
As required anytime a CEW is deployed, the suspect was transported to hospital for medical evaluation, but was otherwise uninjured.
Saanich Police Department officers attended and served the driver with a 14-month driving prohibition issued by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.
The VicPD investigation is also ongoing at this time.
The vehicle involved is described as a white, late model, Hyundai Kona. There are several reports of various incidents involving a similar vehicle. If you witnessed or have video of an incident involving a vehicle matching this description, please call the VicPD Report Desk at (250) 995-7654 extension 1.
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