Driver may be charged in North Saanich rollover

Source: Victoria Times Colonist

BRITISH COLUMBIA - An out-of-control car rolled into the front yard of a homeowner on West Saanich Road Sunday morning, which ended up in possible charges for the driver and interrupted power transmission to hundreds of B.C. Hydro customers.

Around 11 a.m., Sidney/North Saanich RCMP received two 9-1-1 calls from people reporting someone in a sports car ripping down West Saanich Road. They were looking for the driver when a third 9-1-1 call came in to report that he had lost control of an older-model Ford Thunderbird down West Saanich Road near Totem lane, rolled into a ditch and wound up on a resident’s front lawn, according to Const. Warren Attwell.

Attwell said the car hit a hydro utility pole, nearly shearing it in half and downing several power lines. The car also crushed a fence and damaged the homeowner’s front lawn.

Police forced the 19-year-old man out of the vehicle and he was taken to hospital by B.C. Ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries. He was released from hospital a few hours later into police custody and faces criminal code charges, Attwell said.

Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, Attwell said.

“We don’t know the reason for his erratic driving.”

Police diverted traffic away from that section of West Saanich Road for about an hour as B.C. Hydro crews repaired the lines.

Hydro workers had to shut down power as they made the repairs, which left about 1,400 people without electricity for several hours.