POLICE: False call sends emergency services on a goose chase
By Mona Mattei
An emergency call-out on Sunday night had all three emergency services searching for a five-car pile up on Spencer Hill. The origins of the call are unknown, but the services did not find an accident, said Corporal Richard Lanz with the Grand Forks detachment.
The false call came to the services around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 23 and all services responded immediately. “We had members looking all the way from Midway this way and couldn’t find a five-car pile up,” said Lanz. Lanz explained that a false call like this is considered a public mischief, a criminal code offence. But proving that the call was a deliberate prank would be difficult.
“If it was a 911 call then we’d know where it came from and we could follow up on that. But if it wasn’t a 911 call then we don’t know where it came from and there’s nothing we can do unless there was a name associated with it,” said Lanz. “Who’s to say that maybe a group of people stopped on the side of the road and parked all over the place and a person driving by thought there was an accident. We have to investigate it to see if it was legit or not.”
Grand Forks Fire Chief Blair McGregor said that the fire service was notified by the ambulance service to provide back-up at the accident. “When someone calls in they ask for us to assist,” said McGregor. “All I know is that we were asked to assist with a five-car pile up.”
Trees damaged
In City Park unknown persons broke 22 new trees planted in the last year. The cost to replace them will $8 -9,000 for the city. Lanz said that it is unknown if the damage was caused by the same person(s) who damaged the trees around the Angus MacDonald ball park last fall.
If anyone has information on these or any crimes please contact the RCMP at 250-442-8288.
Traffic services
The West Kootenay Traffic and Nelson IRSU unit were out in full force for the long weekend attempting to keep our roads safe for all. The unit charged four people with impaired driving, suspended 13 people for consumption of alcohol or drugs, had 10 drug seizures, and issued 135 speeding infractions and 39 seatbelt violations as well as numerous other traffic violations.
“We are pleased to say that no serious crashes occurred in the West Kootenays but the roads were very busy with traffic,” said Corporal John Ferguson of the West Kootenay traffic services. “As a unit we are still surprised that people do not slow down and obey the speed limit on the roads, even after passing numerous police cars.”
Ferguson said that the May long weekend is traditionally the worst weekend of the year for the region and they will continue to work hard through the year to reduce crashes.
