A suspected 17-year-old impaired driver allegedly came close to colliding head-on with Hwy 2 traffic before smashing into a parked vehicle in Red Deer on Friday morning, Red Deer city RCMP said.
Shortly before 4:45 a.m., police responded to a call of a car driving south in the northbound lanes of Hwy 2 near the Burnt Lake area.
Eyewitnesses report the car was being driven erratically and nearly hitting other vehicles on the highway.
The vehicle was seen entering Red Deer on 32nd Street. Police caught up with the car north on 55th Avenue from 32nd Street.
RCMP spokeswoman Const. Sabrina Grunow said police activated lights and sirens in an attempt to pull over the car, but it continued, and the driver evaded police.
Police were then alerted to a loud crash near 43rd Street and 43rd Avenue at about 5 a.m.
A pickup truck and travel trailer were struck and the vehicle that caused the damage took off.
Shortly after, police received another 911 call of an erratic drive near Hwy 11 and Burnt Lake Trail. The vehicle’s description matched that of the earlier complaint, except now the car had front-end damage, say police.
The car was westbound on Poplar Ridge Road and then entered a nearby field. A passerby blocked the only exit so the car couldn’t leave. The car eventually got stuck.
Police arrived and arrested the lone occupant without incident.
“Thankfully, nobody was hurt,” she said. “Obviously, it was extremely dangerous.”
A teenage suspect was in police custody on Friday afternoon, waiting for a judicial interim release hearing. His name cannot be released by law.
Police say the teen is facing criminal charges of impaired driving, refusing to provide a breath sample, flight from police, dangerous driving, failing to stop at a scene of an accident, and theft.