The driver of a reportedly stolen vehicle is in custody after leading police on a chase around Whistler's south end, Mounties have confirmed.
Police first noted the truck driving erratically at about 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21 near Highway 99 and Village Gate Boulevard. When police attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver fled. No chase was initiated originally, however, officers began searching for the vehicle throughout town when, they begain received reports of the truck heading towards Cheakamus.
Whistler RCMP Staff Sgt. Paul Hayes told Pique the suspect was “driving all over the community here for quite some time before he was stopped.”
Pique publisher Sarah Strother spotted the vehicle Wednesday morning approaching Creekside and swerving erratically in and out of traffic.
“He passed me on the righthand side on the shoulder and then continued to weave in and out of one-lane traffic,” she relayed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Eventually, police tracked down the pickup on the Cheakamus Lake Forest Service Road (FSR), where the driver once again fled the scene. The suspect eventually hit a set of road spikes as he exited the FSR—but this didn't initially slow him down. Police said the man continued driving "in an extremely dangerous manner from Cheakamus into Alpha Lake Park and the onto the railway tracks," where the vehicle became stuck. The 34-year-old Alberta man fled the vehicle before he was taken into custody.
According to Dawn Cashen, who captured the video footage below, the driver "blew over the boulders and through Alpha Lake Park" before the chase came to an end.
The vehicle, a white 2021 Ford F-350 pickup, was confirmed stolen out of Alberta.
Now investigators are asking anyone with photo or video footage of the chase, or any other relevant information to share, to contact the detachment at 604-932-3044, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.
This story has been updated since publication with additional information from police.
