RCMP believe they have found the person who left the scene after a car ended up suspended upside down in the trees below the roadway near the Herald Park campsites.
The incident took place at approximately 2:45 p.m. on July 26.
When police and members of Shuswap Search and Rescue (SAR) arrived, the red compact car was there, hanging precariously in the trees, but the driver was missing.
“It was above the campsites, caught on a few little trees,” says SAR search manager John Schut, noting the vehicle appeared to have been heading towards town on the Sunnybrae Canoe Point Road. “It had crossed the highway and gone into the bush on the opposite side of the road.”
A highly trained high-angle rope rescue team went down the steep slope to check on the vehicle’s occupants,” he said. “There was nobody in the vehicle and we had SAR teams going all around Herald Park.”
The RCMP police dog service was also called in to search for the man who was reported to have gotten out of the vehicle and fled.
“…The suspected occupant of the vehicle who fled was later located by police,” says Staff Sgt. Scott West of the Salmon Arm RCMP. “The suspected occupant was bruised but otherwise OK and police were able to determine that there were no other people that they should be looking for who were connected to this incident.”
West adds that alcohol is suspected to be a factor in the crash.
There is no word as to whether charges would be laid.
Schut says Ben’s Towing retrieved the vehicle with the help of the SAR rope team, who descended to the vehicle to attach cables.
Some 20 members of SAR responded to the call and helped RCMP members search for occupants of the vehicle until dark, returning to town at about 9:30 p.m.