Vancouver Police are investigating the circumstances leading to a morning collision on Main Street, after an occupied police vehicle was hit by a suspected impaired driver.
Around 5:30 am, a marked police vehicle was stopped facing North on Main Street at East Hastings, when it was hit from behind by a pickup truck. The officer exited her patrol car and approached the truck. Suspecting that the driver was impaired, she asked him to get out of the vehicle, and placed him in handcuffs.
Moments later, the driver began to lose consciousness and was placed on the ground. Another officer began to perform CPR on the driver, while a third officer sought help from a passerby and from a nearby support worker who provided naloxone kits. The driver was given three doses of naloxone, while a second man overdosing in the passenger seat of the truck was given two doses. The passenger regained consciousness, but the driver required a fourth dose from paramedics.
Both men declined further treatment from paramedics and refused to go to the hospital. The passenger continued on his way, while the driver remained with police, the subject of an impaired driving investigation. Minutes later, he began to experience chest pains, and was rushed to hospital by paramedics.
The driver, a twenty-four-year-old man from Maple Ridge, is now facing charges for the impaired operation of a motor vehicle and driving while prohibited, in addition to receiving a thirty-day vehicle impoundment.
