Sable River man in hospital with life-threatening injuries after fleeing RCMP checkpoint

A 24-year-old Sable River man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after fleeing an RCMP checkpoint early Saturday morning. (File photo from RCMP NS Facebook page)

An early-morning checkpoint and a flight from police have left a 24-year-old Sable River man in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

About 1 a.m on Saturday morning, Queens District RCMP officers had a checkpoint set up on Milton Road near Liverpool. A Volkswagen Golf approached and then made an abrupt U-turn to head north on Highway 8.

According to a news release, an RCMP officer immediately left the scene to try to stop the Golf.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay told QCCR on Monday that the cruiser was not involved in the crash. The officer found the car off the road and on its roof.

Along with the driver who was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries, the car’s passenger was also injured. She is a 25-year-old woman from East Green Harbour. Her injuries were not life-threatening. 

Cpl. Tremblay did not have an update Monday on their conditions.

“Our officers will do checkpoints at random times throughout the day. From my experience, 1 a.m. is not abnormal. We often do checkponts through the night to conduct traffic enforcement such as impaired drivers that might be out there,” he said in an intervew.

“Oftentimes, there could be many reasons why someone may conduct a U-turn before a checkpoint. It could be a legitimate reason, but it could also be a reason because the person could be impaired, it could be because they don’t have a drivers licence, it could be because they’re wanted. And oftentimes our officers will then get in their vehicle and try to pull over the vehicle that proceeds with the U-turn.” 

Cpl. Tremblay did not know exactly where on the Milton Road the checkpoint was set up.

Highway 8 was closed for several hours, while a collision reconstructionist visited the scene. 

Cpl. Tremblay says officers continue to investigate.

“The investigation remains ongoing. That could involve criminal charges such as flight from police. The same goes for any impairment level. Our officers would be looking to obtain search warrants or warrants to seize any blood … just to determine if the person was impaired at the time of the crash or not.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com