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Building plowed, drunk driving ticket issued in back-to-back Nanaimo crashes

Jan 11, 2018 | 4:28 PM

NANAIMO — Emergency responders were hopping Thursday afternoon with both a possible drunk-driving crash and a car barreling into a church.

RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said the incidents happened just 20 minutes and a few blocks apart on Jan. 11.

O’Brien said at 3:10 p.m. on Townsite Rd. an eastbound car driven by a 63-year-old woman crashed into the exterior wall of First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo.

“She went through the intersection and struck the side of the Unitarian hall, there is significant structural damage.”

The car created a hole in the side of the church, with a bulk of the front-end lodged inside.

O’Brien said the driver and lone occupant of the car was not injured, nor was anybody else. He noted the driver may be charged, but said the wreck could be medical related. O’Brien said officers will review video of the incident captured by a nearby business.

He said it’s fortunate nobody was injured at what’s a busy four-way intersection with an elementary school across the street.

“There’s a lot of foot traffic, a lot of parents picking up kids at that particular time.”

Just 20 minutes earlier there was a head-on crash where Bush St. becomes Pryde Ave., according to O’Brien.

He said a truck and car collided, resulting in a father and teenage son in the car taking a trip to Nanaimo Hospital with minor injuries.

“The driver of the pick-up was not injured, he was believed to be impaired and issued an IRP (impaired driving ticket) and both vehicles were towed from the scene.”

O’Brien said the truck has been impounded.

 

Ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes