Nakusp RCMP are trying to sort out what sent a vehicle flying over 75 feet off the end of the Shelter Bay ferry ramp late last Monday night. They suspect that illegal drugs could be a contributing factor.

On Monday, Oct. 12, Nakusp RCMP received a call at about 11:45 p.m. from the Galena/Shelter Bay Ferry reporting a vehicle had driven off the ferry ramp on the Galena Bay side while the ferry was still 10 minutes from reaching the landing.

The RCMP report the passengers and workers on the ferry saw the car go into the lake with its lights still. When the ferry arrived at the landing, ferry workers followed the man’s soggy tracks up from the ferry and then loaded him onto the boat and kept him warm with blankets.

Nick Carlson, 21, of Winlaw is currently under investigation by the RCMP following the incident. RCMP say they believe Carlson was impaired by a drug at the time. Carlson had a quantity of narcotics and cash on him when detained by the RCMP. He admitted to being alone in the vehicle but RCMP wished to retrieve the vehicle to make sure no one was in the vehicle, and also to continue their investigation.

On Oct. 14, Nakusp RCMP were at the ferry landing when an RCMP dive team came to locate the vehicle underwater and to help tow the vehicle off the lake’s bottom. After a couple of hours, timing the dives between ferry runs, the vehicle had been found by the dive team and was hooked up to towing equipment. The vehicle was found almost straight off the ferry ramp in about 15 feet of water and about 75 to 100 feet out from the landing.

When the vehicle was towed to shore, a member of the dive team went through debris which had left the vehicle, picking up many empty sandwich bags, some with small quantities of what appeared to be marijuana inside. There were also a couple empty beer cans inside the wreck. Upon search of the vehicle, RCMP found more empty bags, but no one else inside.