Slow-speed pursuit in the snow
After a “very slow-speed pursuit,” Kamloops Mounties were able to corral a senior who used his electric scooter to leave Ridgeview Lodge in Brocklehurst early on Monday, Jan. 7.
Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said staff at the Desmond Street facility for seniors phoned police at 4:40 a.m. for help when they realized the resident at the home had headed out into the snowstorm that was blanketing the city, accompanied by below-freezing temperature.
Staff told police there had been no specific incident or event that may have triggered his decision to leave, nor had he showed any harmful or threatening behaviour before.
Staff were concerned about his lack of appropriate clothing and that the decision to head out in the middle of the night might indicate he was experiencing the early stages of degenerative mental functioning.
Learned said police searched the area and noticed a set of tracks they believed had to have been made by the scooter.
The tracks overlapped several times and, as officers followed them, they discovered the 70-year-old had been doing laps around the block.
“He was corralled and stopped in what officers said was a slow-speed pursuit,” Learned said.
The man was co-operative and agreed to head back to the residential facility, where he parked his scooter and handed its keys to staff.
The senior was taken to Royal Inland Hospital this week for assessment.
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