Close call has police seeking more information
A three-quarter tonne truck tire with the rim still in it was rolled from near the Canadian flag pole at the Norgaard Lookout to Highway 8, nearly hitting a vehicle.
“It could’ve been horrid,” RCMP Sgt. Norm Flemming said of the incident.
The wheel came down off the mountain just past Juniper Drive shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday (March 1).
Two people in a vehicle driving into town were spared from an accident when the oncoming tire bounced over the vehicle causing the male driver to brake.
“He saw it at the last minute [and] he said he had nowhere to go,” Flemming said.
The tire came to rest on the south side of the road some 200 metres west of where the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers converge, Flemming said.
“The vehicle turned around and the passenger saw two youths — maybe 14 or 15 [years old] — scrambling up the hill and riding bicycles,” Flemming said.
The driver proceeded to drive up to the flag pole in search of the individuals, but didn’t find them. He then called the police who searched the area to no avail.
No one was injured and no damage was done to the vehicle.
“If it had hit the driver’s door straight on, it could have easily killed him, and the truck would’ve undoubtably wound up in the river. Nobody would’ve been prepared for that,” Flemming said.
He told the Herald police are seeking more information regarding this incident.
The tire came off a late 1990s, early 2000s Chevrolet, he said.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Merritt RCMP or call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
