Police cordoned off a section of 27 Avenue Feb. 10 to investigate an alleged hit-and-run and stabbing incident.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
February 15, 2016 - 11:58 AM
VERNON - Police are investigating to see if drugs played into a bizarre hit-and-run incident last week in Vernon.
An 18-year-old allegedly struck a 23-year-old woman walking on 27 Avenue on Feb. 10 with the BMW he was driving. The driver, later identified as Abd'l-Malik Loubissi-Morris, fled the scene with his 17-year-old passenger but was later arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle, assault with a weapon and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Before fleeing the scene, Loubissi-Morris was allegedly stabbed by a 29-year-old man who knew the injured woman. Thomas Ritchie faces charges of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, and aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing Loubissi-Morris with a knife. Police do not believe Ritchie and Loubissi-Morris knew each other.
Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says the trafficking charge against Loubissi-Morris stemmed from the investigation, but won’t say what drugs were seized, or if they were a factor in the hit-and-run.
“At this point we’re not ready to say that was the cause of the incident,” Noseworthy says.
A house in the immediate vicinity of the incident is known to police, but she says police are "still investigating whether the location of the incident had anything to do with the incident itself."
The 23-year-old pedestrian has been released from hospital.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016