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Flipped car driver found

UPDATE: 3:05 p.m.

Penticton RCMP has confirmed that the man who flipped his car into the ditch between Penticton and Trout Creek has been found.

Summerland RCMP located the man, who apparently had no notable injuries from the crash and told police he had been texting while driving.

No charges were laid for distracted driving.


ORIGINAL: 9:52 p.m.

Emergency crews responded to a car that flipped over into the ditch between Penticton and Summerland Sunday evening.

Crews got the call at around 9 p.m., and upon arriving found that the driver was not with the car.

Lanny Swanson says he was in the car that first found the one in the ditch after running over its bumper.

"We're driving down the road, and we saw a car ... probably another kilometre down and it had its four-way flashers on, slowed us down, and then we saw a guy walking down the highway on a cell phone and then all of a sudden, horrible, horrible crunching noise under our car and we ran over his bumper," Swanson said.

"As soon as I saw that, I looked over and I saw (the car) in the ditch. Went and turned around, called 9-1-1 right away."

It's not clear what happened to the car, as it was driving along a straight stretch of road along Highway 97.

"I can see the skid marks right there on the road," Swanson said, pointing to tracks that veer off of the road about ten metres behind the car on the southbound lane. "I hope it was a deer and nothing else, right?"

Firefighters were searching the immediate area around the car and directing traffic around the scene, with a small section of the right-hand lane blocked off.

Initially one police car was on scene along with an ambulance and a fire truck, but at least two more police cars arrived at the scene later on.



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