A young man is lucky to be alive, after a late-night car accident in the Border City.
According to Corporal Mike Dunsmore of the Lloydminster RCMP, a call came in to the local detachment just after 11 p.m., advising that a vehicle was on fire in the intersection of 52 Avenue and 44 Street. When officers arrived on scene, they found that the vehicle had crashed into a traffic light pole in the intersection, and the driver had left the scene.
The vehicle had burst into flames following the crash, which were knocked down by members of the Lloydminster Fire Department.
After the police fanned out to find the driver, the police search dog was called in to locate the man, who was found north of the crash, near the intersection of 48 Street and 54 Avenue. After officers checked his well-being, he was arrested for impaired driving, dangerous driving and criminal flight.
Dunsmore said the 18-year old male driver of the vehicle was “definitely lucky” to have avoided any major injury, due to the nature of the crash.
“This doesn’t happen very often,” said Dunsmore.
“It’s pretty easy to see from the scene, we had a significant impact with the vehicle, lots of intrusion.”
106.1 The Goat also caught up with Jordan Hennick, an eyewitness who described what they had heard from the driver following the crash. Hennick had been in the area of the crash at the time of the incident with friends, and went out to check out what took place.
“We were parked off to the side when the driver came out (of the vehicle),” said Hennick.
“He took off on foot somewhere, he was pretty shaken up, but he was mad more about the beer he had spilled than anything.”
Hennick said the driver had described a passenger also being in the car.
“He didn’t have any beer in his hand, but he claimed that there was someone in the passenger seat with him, saying that whoever was in the passenger seat ‘spilled a perfectly good beer’ that he could have drank,” said Hennick.
“That’s pretty much what he was most upset about.”
Hennick also said he had lost friends to drinking and driving.
“Whoever knows the guy, they better be thankful that he’s alive, but he needs a disciplinary act,” said Hennick.
“That’s not something that people should take lightly.”
According to Dunsmore, the male was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
After being arrested, the male was taken to hospital. As more information becomes available, this report will be updated.