Salmon Arm police ended January with a hit-and-run that became a family affair after mom got involved.
At 10 p.m. on Jan. 31, a man reported that a blue Jeep Compass had hit his semi truck at the intersection of Highway 1 and Shuswap Street. Attending officers found the Jeep still on scene with extensive front-end damage, and blocking the westbound lane, with the semi driver saying the other driver and two passengers had fled on foot.
While investigating, approximately 30 minutes after the collision, the mother of the Jeep’s registered owner reported the vehicle stolen, stating it had been parked outside of her residence and then was gone. She claimed that she’d called her son on his cellphone and he didn’t know where the vehicle was.
“Police advised that was unlikely as his phone was still in the vehicle and police were observing phone calls coming from ‘mom,’” Const. Andrew Hodges said in a Feb. 7 media release. “The mother then came clean about her lie, and was cautioned for criminal public mischief.”
She eventually admitted that her 22-year-old son had been driving and crashed, and that he was OK but didn’t know where he was.
The driver was located the next day and, with surveillance footage from a nearby business supporting the semi driver’s claims that the Jeep had run a red light on Shuswap and hit him, was served violation tickets for fail to remain at the scene of an accident, fail to obey a red light, fail to display “N” and driving contrary to restriction.
The semi truck sustained damage to a rear axle and fuel tank, with no reported injuries to the driver.
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