Two young men were arrested in a stolen car after fleeing from police with the assistance of Air One, a police dog and a team effort by Langley RCMP members
Langley: In the early morning hours of Friday April 11th, a Langley RCMP officer on routine patrol spotted a Honda Civic that was stopped with two open doors in the middle of a quiet Walnut Grove street. The
officer saw one male standing beside the car and a second male who was ducked down inside a parked car while trying to steal it. When the two males saw the police they jumped into the Honda Civic and took off. The officer attempted to stop the car but the driver fled from police at a high rate of speed towards Fort Langley. Air One, the Lower Mainland Traffic Safety Helicopter, was dispatched to assist and the car was quickly acquired by the Tactical Flight Officer inside the helicopter. The Honda was then followed only from the air while being videotaped by the Tactical Flight Officer using a thermal imaging camera.
The Honda travelled at a high rate of speed along Glover Road where it passed another vehicle on a double solid line and narrowly missed striking a second car head on. The Honda then turned into a driveway on a rural street and the two males got out and began walking without apparently knowing they were being tracked by air with their body heat glowing brightly against the cold ground. The two males began running into a large farm property to escape capture but the Tactical Flight Officer in Air One was able to direct police ground units to the farm’s location. The first unit on scene was a police dog handler with his 3 1/2 year old male German Shepherd named Chad. The police dog and handler began tracking the scent of the two males who were by now in a full sprint across a large open field, but they were no match for the dog and his handler who quickly caught up and took the first male to the ground where he was taken into custody. The second male continued running until he came upon the rear of a house where he laid down and hid in the back of a pickup truck that was parked there. Through the eye of the thermal imaging camera the male was glowing like a bright light against a black background; there was nowhere he could hide. The Tactical Flight Officer in Air One was once again able to direct ground units to the male’s exact location where he was arrested without incident.
The Honda Civic the two males were driving was stolen from a driveway in Surrey earlier in the night. It had not yet been reported as stolen. The male driver is 35-years-old and is a prohibited driver. The passenger is 31-years-old. Both are well known to police. They face charges of dangerous driving, flight from police, possession of stolen property and attempt theft of auto.
