Just before noon Thursday, April 4, an officer was on routine patrol in downtown Trail when he allegedly spotted a Castlegar woman, 41, driving while prohibited.
The officer went to detain her and the vehicle roadside but, by the time he turned around, the vehicle was parked and unoccupied.
He then sighted the driver leaving the area on foot. The officer conducted patrols until he located the woman; however, she again gave him the slip.
The woman eventually returned to her vehicle and the officer was able to intercept her. She denied to the officer that she was driving the vehicle. The officer informed her that he had seen her doing so.
The officer arrested the woman for driving while prohibited. She was released after being issued a notice to appear in the Rossland courthouse next month.
The vehicle was impounded for up to seven days and issued a notice to repair outstanding defects.
The case, however, doesn’t end there.
The morning of Saturday, April 6, an officer was on routine patrol when she detained the same Castlegar woman driving a vehicle on Fifth Avenue, in East Trail.
The officer asked the woman to identify herself and show her B.C. driver’s licence, which she was unable to produce. The woman then attempted to walk away from the officer, though she was stopped and arrested for obstruction.
The officer identified the woman and discovered that she had been arrested two days previous for the same alleged offence.
Again, she was released with a notice to appear in the Rossland courthouse, this time in June.
The vehicle was impounded for up to seven days.
The officer also seized two packages of unstamped tobacco and a small quantity of a white powdery substance suspected to be a street drug.
“She is the driver of her own misfortune,” says Sgt. Mike Wicentowich, Trail detachment commander.