Here’s a roundup of crime news from across B.C. on Dec. 27, 2024.
Here’s a roundup of crime news from across B.C. on Dec. 27, 2024.
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Man charged after guns found in package shipped through YVR
A Sicamous, B.C. man has been charged after guns were found in a package shipped through Vancouver International Airport.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency’s news release shared Friday, the package caught the attention of security screeners at YVR’s commercial operations back in April 2024. CBSA officers found a courier package containing three prohibited items; the package was addressed Jesse Pat Lyle.
Lyle is known to police and has a lifetime firearms prohibition. As a result of the investigation, police searched Lyle’s vehicle and boat as well in June, seizing one gun with a scratched out serial number, two firearm magazines, one spring-loaded baton, one stun gun, and a quantity of illegal drugs.
Last month, Lyle was charged with three counts of firearms-related offences, two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon, and four counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Lyle was arrested by the RCMP and will appear in court on Jan. 7, 2025.
Driver charged over crash that killed Alberta man
Mounties in British Columbia say six impaired driving charges have been approved against a 29-year-old man over a crash that killed an elderly Good Samaritan near Qualicum Beach earlier this year.
The 80-year-old man from Red Deer, Alta., had stopped to help a woman whose minivan hit a power pole on Highway 19A around 2:30 a.m. on March 2.
The 36-year-old woman driver was seriously injured and the passerby killed when a third vehicle, driven by a man from Coombs, B.C., crashed into them.
B.C. Highway Patrol says its investigation has led to six charges including dangerous driving causing death and operating a motor vehicle causing death while impaired by alcohol and cocaine.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with B.C. Highway Patrol says in a news release that there have been “repeated incidents” of people getting hurt or killed while trying to help after a collision.
He says that while the police service “applauds the sentiment of anyone trying to help after a collision,” highways are dangerous places and “extreme caution” needs to be exercised.
“B.C. Highway Patrol will do everything we can to investigate and charge people who choose to drive while impaired by alcohol and drugs,” he adds.
The patrol says people should consider whether they have reflective clothing, good footwear and are physically able to help before they stop.
The statement says the best option is often to call 911 or wait for a professional, noting that people involved in minor crashes may be safer waiting for authorities in their car.
But it says that if people have exited their vehicles, the best course of action is to move away from traffic.
In June, a 70-year-old man was killed when he got out of his vehicle to help after a school bus went off Highway 97 near Lac La Hache in the B.C. Interior.
Police said the man was struck by an SUV whose driver could not see around a bend in the highway, and no criminality was involved.
-The Canadian Press