A 58-year-old Vancouver man was arrested in Whistler following a motor vehicle accident in which alcohol was suspected to be a factor, local police confirmed.
At approximately 10:45 p.m. on Monday, May 27, Whistler RCMP received a report of a vehicle in a ditch at the intersection of Aspen Road and Whistler Drive, according to a release. Once at the scene, police discovered a grey, 2018 Ford F150 occupied by one person who officers believed to be in care and control of the vehicle.
"Police began an investigation into the crash and through that investigation suspected alcohol was a contributing factor," read the release.
The driver was brought to the Whistler RCMP Detachment to provide breath samples, in order to determine the concentration of alcohol in his system. Following those tests the Vancouver man was arrested and subsequently released from police custody with a promise to appear in North Vancouver Court on August 28.
Police continue to investigate this file and are asking anyone who witnessed this event but has not spoken to police, or perhaps saw the vehicle driving in the area on Monday, to contact the Whistler RCMP at 604 932-3044 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
RCMP BRITANNIA ROAD STOP NOT TO BLAME FOR MAY LONG WEEKEND TRAFFIC BACKUPS
Were you stuck in backed-up traffic near Britannia Beach last Saturday, May 18?
If you were blaming your traffic woes on RCMP road monitoring, you need to look somewhere else say officials.
Police "can confirm that last weekend's highway backup was entirely due to normal long weekend traffic volume and was not at all a result (of) the RCMP's road stop," said a spokesperson with the RCMP's BC Traffic Division in an email.
Pique originally reached out to the RCMP's Sea to Sky Traffic Services looking for more information after word of the road monitoring and highway backups flooded social media over the May long weekend.
Despite dozens of photos and comments posted in online forums like the Sea to Sky Road Conditions Facebook page referencing the check point, police say they "were not interfering with the flow of traffic" during the approximately three hours they spent conducting enforcement in Britannia Beach last Saturday.
"Every Saturday the northbound traffic is very heavy, however, on the May long weekend the northbound traffic is notoriously extremely heavy and is always slow going from the Furry Creek two lane area to the one northbound lane through Britannia Beach," explained Cpl. Elizabeth Lynn in an email.
"Knowing the traffic would be very slow going through Britannia Beach area and not wanting to interfere with the already heavy traffic, the police set up in Britannia Beach monitoring the northbound traffic. Any vehicle safety issues or motor vehicle act infractions the police would flag the vehicle and pull it into the Galileo parking lot to conduct enforcement. The parking lot was used to ensure the police, the motor vehicle being stopped and the motoring public's safety.
"The slow moving traffic on Saturday May 18th was merely from the sheer volume of the holiday long weekend," she added.
RCMP ARREST 'PROLIFIC PROPERTY OFFENDERS'
Squamish police recovered not only "several vehicles which they believed to be stolen" on Sunday afternoon, May 26, but also two men they believe to be responsible for a wide-range of recent thefts in the region as well, confirmed RCMP.
Alongside the Sea to Sky General Investigations Unit, Squamish RCMP located the vehicles at a gas station in Brackendale.
After further investigation, police located two men nearby. The pair, aged 25 and 36 and both from Penticton, was subsequently arrested on scene.
RCMP was also able to recover four mountain bikes that had been reported stolen during two separate residential break-and-enters a week prior in the Ravenswood neighbourhood, as well as other items allegedly stolen from vehicles in Whistler earlier this month.
According to the release, the 36-year-old man was held in custody due to an outstanding warrant for a stolen vehicle and flight from police out of Penticton. The 25-year-old man was released from custody and due to appear in North Vancouver Court in July 2019.
