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Police
Vernon man falls off boat after losing balance and hits propeller
VERNON - Police are looking into what role alcohol may have played in a weekend boating accident which left a Vernon man badly injured — and they’re not investigating the driver of the boat. Police believe a 21-year-old Vernon man who fell off the bow of a boat and struck the propeller might have been...
Vernon teen and dad share words of warning after ‘creepy’ Facebook friend request
VERNON - The name on the Facebook friend request was an unfamiliar one, and this particular Vernon teen might have ignored it, except for the mutual friend they had in common. A tap on her cell phone and just like that, they became friends. It wasn’t until she got home and checked her messages that...
Blood found outside Vernon school connected to stabbing incident
SUSPECT ARRESTED VERNON - Police have determined the blood found outside Ellison Elementary School in Vernon is connected to a stabbing incident. Officers had a portion of Fulton Road and Okanagan Landing Road outside the school cordoned off on Wednesday, May 28 while they investigated the scene and collected evidence. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said a man...
UPDATE: Police presence in front of Ellison Elementary
VERNON - Police have cordoned off the road near Ellison Elementary School in Vernon after someone discovered blood in the area Wednesday morning. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the blood was found sometime between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., May 27, on Fulton Road, in front of Ellison Elementary School. While police are treating the...
‘He’s grabbing onto my gun,’ says cop charged with assault
LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – An RCMP officer accused of assault says the elderly bar patron he took to the ground, punched three times and arrested last year was going for his gun. “I (felt) a very distinct feeling on my right hip,” the accused, Const. Grant Jacobson, 32, said in court today, May 26. “In...
Traffic halted on Highway 6 for air ambulance landing
VERNON - Highway 6 was shut down and used as a landing strip for B.C. Air Ambulance over the weekend. The aircraft was picking up a 60-year-old man from Edmonton who hit a deer while riding his BMW bike along Highway 6 near Angel Falls (close to the Needles Ferry) around 3:10 p.m. Saturday, May...
Penticton man found badly beaten on side of road
PENTICTON – A man is in police custody after what police are calling “a serious assault” that left a Penticton man badly injured on the side of the road Thursday morning. According to a release, Penticton RCMP were called to the 3 km mark on Shingle Creek Road off Green Mountain Road shortly after 8:30...
‘Two full open cans of beer (dropped) at the officer’s feet’
HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO DRINK SINCE LAST NIGHT, OFFICER LUMBY - It was more a question of what laws a Lumby man wasn't breaking when he was pulled over on Victoria Day. A cop parked at the Lumby RCMP detachment noticed him drive by without a seat belt on and using his cell phone on...
Westside Road shooter could get dangerous offender status
KELOWNA – The man who shot at police as he and two accomplices fled from police along Westside Road in 2012 will be evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine if he is a dangerous offender. In late February, Michael Ellis, 41, was found guilty of unlawful discharge of a prohibited weapon, armed robbery, attempted robbery,...
Vernon dog team nabs neighbourhood thief
VERNON - A man accused of stealing from peoples’ boats, cars and garages was stopped in his tracks by the Vernon RCMP’s dog unit over the long weekend. Police received a report of a suspicious man going through cars and yards in the Cranberry Lane area of Middleton Mountain Monday, May 18. One caller reported...
UPDATE: Legion president injured in Highway 97 crash
KELOWNA – A car crash on Highway 97 near Old Vernon Road in Kelowna this morning seriously injured three people, including two members of the Royal Canadian Legion. Branch 26 president Syd Pratt and member Frank Truman were on their way to a Flag Day event at the Lakeview Memorial Cemetery, Lynda Wachter the Legion's manager...
‘All of a sudden, a friggin’ moose comes out of nowhere and lands on the front of the truck’
KELOWNA - Doug Adams remembers the moose slamming into the hood, then sliding up the windshield, six inches from his face. The impact brought the one-ton diesel truck to an instant standstill. Adams, 56, of Vernon, was the passenger in a truck that collided with an estimated 800 pound moose last Friday, May 1, in...
Child escapes Vernon car crash with minor injuries
VERNON - Two people, one of them a nine-year-old, escaped with minor injuries after their car flipped onto its roof Monday. The accident happened just after 3 p.m. Monday, May 4, at Highway 97 and College Way in Vernon, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said in a release. “The investigation determined the vehicle had been travelling...
Driver gets ticket for nasty crash; highway traffic brought to standstill south of Vernon
VERNON - There were multiple injuries in a Sunday afternoon car accident on Highway 97 south of Vernon, which halted traffic for over two hours, but fortunately no fatalities. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the crash at Bailey Road and Highway 97, which had northbound traffic backed up almost to Oyama, was caused by an...
Convicted murderer who rammed police in stolen truck released
KELOWNA – A convicted murderer who Justice Peter Rogers calls a 'serial criminal' will be released from custody later today despite using a stolen truck to ram a police car just one year after being released from prison. Daniel Mader, 31, was sentenced to time served Wednesday in Kelowna Supreme Court. He pleaded guilty to...
RCMP arrest 13 people in drug trafficking investigation
KELOWNA - A drug trafficking investigation led to 13 arrests Friday morning but only five will face the judge. Kelowna RCMP showed up at what they say is a known problem residence in the 1300 block of Belaire Avenue with a search warrant, according to an RCMP media release. Mounties found cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and...
New RCMP officers will fill service hole identified in 2012
KELOWNA - Six new RCMP officers will join the ranks of the Kelowna RCMP this year, likely just in time for the summer tourist crush. “Four of the new officers will be front-line general duty policing officers,“ said Supt. Nick Romanchuk, while one officer will be assigned to child abuse investigations and another to civilian...
Kelowna RCMP marijuana raid a ‘form of discouragement’
VERNON - A police raid might seem like an extreme way to send a message, but a Vernon businessman thinks that was the case with a marijuana dispensary that was shut down in Kelowna. Imre Kovacs is a partial owner of The Herbal Health Centre in Vernon, which opened in the summer of 2013, and...
Kelowna duo arrested for stealing country club’s gas
SPALLUMCHEEN - A pair of Kelowna men didn’t make it far after trying to steal gas from the Spallumcheen Golf and Country Club. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the golf club’s alarm went off around 7:45 p.m. Dec. 27 at the outside gas tanks. Police found one suspect in the immediate area, and a second...
Snowmobile accident claims life of Salmon Arm teen
ENDERBY - A Salmon Arm teen is dead after a snowmobiling accident near Enderby. The 16-year-old Salmon Arm boy was snowmobiling with his father and others Dec. 28 in Hunters Range, but got separated from the group, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. He wasn’t separated for long, but when his father tried to contact him...
Passenger during Westside Road police shootout says he was in charge
LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – Michael Ellis, accused ringleader of a 2012 high speed shootout with police, was just doing what he was told. At least that’s what his only defence witness says. Shawn Wysynski, who is also a lifelong friend of Ellis, told Kelowna Supreme Court Justice Ian Josephson that the only reason his friends were...
Police seek information in bizarre Kelowna handgun incident
KELOWNA - Police are looking for a man who allegedly pointed a gun at a pair of Okanagan residents and then offered to help them change a tire. The strange incident happened Nov. 4 around 12:30 a.m. at the Willow Park Church parking lot at 439 Highway 33, states a release from the Kelowna RCMP....
Convicted killer due for sentencing for ramming police car
"IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT PERIODS OF INCARCERATION HAVE AFFECTED HIM." KELOWNA – A Kelowna man with an extensive criminal history is being sentenced for using a stolen truck to ram a police car as he tried to evade arrest only one year after being released from prison for a 2005 manslaughter conviction. "It was only...
Kelowna lawyer helping veterans get the help they need
"ONCE YOU'RE IN THAT HOLE IT CAN BE VERY HARD TO CLIMB OUT. THAT'S WHERE WE COME IN." KELOWNA – A local lawyer has made it his mission to help marginalized B.C. veterans transition to civilian life. Matthew Canzer is a Kelowna lawyer who recently started the B.C. chapter of the Veterans Emergency Transition Services....