A Chilliwack man allegedly crashed into two cars after speeding away from a police stop by anti-gang officers in Maple Ridge on Tuesday, June 2.
Members of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU)’s Uniformed Gang Enforcement Team were on patrol in Maple Ridge when they noted a vehicle whose owner was flagged – he was to be served for traffic offences.
The officers tried to pull the man over in the 12000 block of Plaza Street, said Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, spokesperson for the CFSEU.
The driver slowed as if pulling over, then accelerated away and crashed into a bystander’s vehicle near the corner of Plaza and Dewdney Trunk Road.
The CFSEU officers stopped to check on the driver of the other car, who was not hurt, while the suspect continued and crashed into a second vehicle near Dewdney and 222nd Street, said Winpenny. That driver was also not injured.
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The driver allegedly fled on foot after the second crash, and bystanders told police which way he had run. Lower Mainland Police Dog Services and the Ridge Meadows RCMP helped with the incident.
The man was arrested not long after the crashes, allegedly while trying to hide in a back yard in the 22100 block of Dunbar Street. Witnesses last week said that about seven police officers ran into the house on Dunbar near Dewdney.
A search of the suspect located suspected drugs, a folding knife, and brass knuckles, said Winpenny. Suspected drugs were also found inside the suspect car.
The suspected driver, 26-year-old Richard Marquez de Sadeleer of Chilliwack, has been charged with several Criminal Code offences related to dangerous driving and fleeing from police.
The investigation is ongoing, said Winpenny.