Asleep at the wheel then off to jail

A 32-year-old Surrey man is in custody after he was found asleep behind the wheel following a brief chase in West Kelowna early Saturday morning.

An RCMP member spotted a green BMW leave the Shell parking lot on Dobbin Road about 4 a.m. Saturday morning.

Photo: Contributed - Google Street View

The vehicle drove onto Hebert Road before proceeding the wrong way on Dobbin Road.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, however, it was heading southbound on Highway 97 on the wrong side of the highway and the meridian prevented either vehicle from getting back to the appropriate lane of travel.

Cst. Kris Clark says the BMW narrowly missed a couple of head-on collisions.

He says the member was following the suspect in order to alert on-coming traffic because you don't expect to see someone coming at you on a highway at that speed.

"As the suspect was traveling in excess of 120 km/h, for public safety, police abandoned the pursuit once the suspect had gotten into the correct lane," says Clark.

"Later that morning, shortly after 8 a.m., West Kelowna RCMP received a report of a man sleeping in a green BMW with no plates. The car was parked in the driveway of a residence in the 5300 block of Princeton Avenue in Peachland."

Clark says the driver has a long driving history and is aware he is prohibited from driving indefinitely.

"There are definitely reasons why he did not want to be stopped."

The man was arrested without incident.

He faces charges of Dangerous Driving, Flight From Police, Driving While Prohibited and Driving Without Insurance.