'Lucky to walk away': Alleged impaired driver crashes into Saanich hydro pole
Saanich police say an alleged drunk driver is lucky to have escaped serious injury after they crashed into a hydro pole on Sunday afternoon.
Police were called to the collision around 4:20 p.m. Sunday in the 1000-block of Burnside Road West.
When officers arrived, the driver was found trapped in their vehicle with the utility pole collapsed overtop of the car.
First responders, including police and the Saanich Fire Department, took nearly two hours to safely remove the driver, since the utility pole was still attached to active power lines, creating an "extremely hazardous situation."
Once the driver was freed, police say they failed a roadside breath test. The driver was handed a 90-day driving ban and had their vehicle impounded, according to Saanich police.
"In looking at the photos from the scene it is quite obvious to see that the driver was lucky to walk away without serious injuries," said Saanich police Const. Markus Anastasiades in a release Monday.
"Not only did the pole land on the windshield of the truck, but several of the lines attached to the pole were energized with thousands of volts of electricity," he said. "A clear message on the inherent dangers and risks of operating a motor vehicle while impaired."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.