Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
December 10, 2018 - 12:01 PM
KELOWNA - A passenger in a vehicle driven by a suspected impaired driver is in the intensive care unit of Kelowna General Hospital with life-threatening injuries after a crash early this morning.
At 2:13 a.m. today, Dec. 10, emergency crews rushed to the scene after RCMP received a report of a single vehicle collision at the intersection of Harvey Avenue and Banks Road. The eastbound red Chevrolet Avalanche smashed into a traffic light standard next to the highway, according to an RCMP news release.
“The extent of the intrusion of damage into the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle was so significant that the civilian motorists who were first on scene were unable to observe a severely injured female, in the rear passenger compartment,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said in the release. “Emergency crews were required to extricate the female who was rushed to hospital in critical condition.”
Investigators suspected the driver was impaired by alcohol, the release states. The driver failed a test using a roadside screening device. He was then taken to the RCMP station and required to provide blood samples, which exceeded the legal limit.
The driver, a 26-year-old Kelowna man, sustained relatively minor injuries as a result of the collision and faces a number of charges and driving prohibitions.
The female passenger is in a medically induced coma in intensive care and her injuries are considered life threatening in nature, O'Donaghey says.
If you witnessed this crash and have not yet spoken to police you are asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section at 250-762-3300.
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