Pickup truck smashes into several cars and businesses at Nanaimo mall
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:11:29 +0000
The RCMP says the driver of a pickup truck that smashed into several businesses and vehicles at a Nanaimo mall Monday night may have been under the influence of drugs.
Police, along with fire and ambulance crews, were called to Country Club Centre around 7 p.m. after receiving reports of a truck causing havoc in the parking lot.
Officers arrived to find a vehicle lodged into the exterior wall of a CIBC bank.
A 38-year-old man was found in the driver’s seat. Police say he appeared to be in distress and was taken by ambulance to hospital.
“Witnesses told police the suspect vehicle was being driven at a high rate of speed through the parking lot and it appeared the driver, for unknown reasons, was driving directly at the various buildings,” said Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien.
Two vehicles and at least three buildings were struck during the two to three minutes it took the vehicle to drive throughout the parking lot.
Before crashing into the bank, the pickup truck had smashed into both an Urban Barn and Shoppers Drug Mart. All three businesses received structural damage.
One of the vehicles hit, a new model Honda Civic, was occupied but the driver was uninjured. The Honda, however, was destroyed.
Shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday, a pickup truck, driven by a 38-year-old male, drove into several businesses located at the Country Club Centre in Nanaimo.
O’Brien says the driver of the pickup remains in hospital and has not yet been arrested or charged with any Criminal Code or Motor Vehicle Act offences.
“At this time, investigators are exploring the possibility that the driver may have been impaired by drugs. These investigations are often lengthy and time-consuming, and it may be several months, if not longer, before investigators are in a position to forward charges for approval,” said O’Brien.