A 57-year-old Surrey driver was arrested Sunday on Highway 1 near Chilliwack with an open beer can in hand and his 12-year-old son in the passenger's seat.
"As a parent you have responsibilities, and this kind of thing is very upsetting to hear about," RCMP Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth said in a news release.
But thanks to a woman who called police to report the erratic driver, and an off-duty officer who also saw the car "weaving between the slow and fast lane" and "straddling the centre line," a tragedy was avoided, Hollingsworth said.
"Had they not called to report this incident, the story could've ended very differently," she said.
The white, 2007 GMC Yukon pulling a red-and-white coloured boat was "all over the road" when it was reported heading westbound on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Lickman Road overpass at about 8 p.m.
A Chilliwack RCMP officer located the vehicle and pulled it over.
"The driver had an open can of beer in his hand," Hollingsworth said.
The "scared and emotional" boy told police that they were at Adams Lake near Kamloops for the weekend, and were on their way home, she said.
The boy was taken by police to his grandmother's house in Abbotsford to wait for his mother to pick him up.
The unidentified father is facing several alcohol-related charges and was released on a promise to appear later in court.