THE RCMP always get their man - even on their day off.
An off-duty North Vancouver RCMP constable is being praised after stepping in to arrest a suspected drunk driver following a nasty collision Saturday morning.
Const. Yushi Ebisawa was on his day off and driving west on Mount Seymour Parkway around 8 a.m. when a silver Volkswagen, damaged and smoking, sped by driving erratically. Ebisawa called 9-1-1 and followed the Volkswagen to the parking lot of a nearby fast-food joint, where he identified himself as an RCMP officer and arrested the driver.
At the time, Ebisawa did not know the extent of the damage the alleged impaired driver had left in his wake. Witnesses reported seeing the silver Volkswagen swerve through traffic and hit a black Volkswagen, causing it to crash through the median and land on its roof in the opposite lane on the Parkway. Emergency crews were responding to the collision at the time Ebisawa was making the arrest.
The woman driving the flipped sedan was taken to Lions Gate Hospital and released after the weekend.
A 34-year-old Chilliwack man, is now facing charges of impaired driving and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Ebisawa was acting in the public's interest and put himself at some risk when he made the arrest, according to Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman.
"He was certainly at the right place at the right time and realized, for public safety, the individual who passed him was breaking the law. He took precautions for his own safety by calling 9-1-1," De Jong said. "The timing was impeccable."
Ebisawa's takedown was one anyone could perform as a citizens' arrest, De Jong said, as long as the citizen making the arrest is aware there is some inherent risk involved. "It's just as much as saying 'I'm arresting you. The police are coming."
