A heavy police presence along Highway 1 through Burnaby and Coquitlam backed up traffic in both directions on Tuesday afternoon.
The crashes have now been cleared, but Burnaby RCMP said they were caused by a robbery suspect travelling eastbound.
Footage from Global One’s chopper captured three incidents, two near Gaglardi Way and another near Brunette Avenue.
One of the collisions involved a vehicle and a semi and was blocking two lanes.
Further down the highway, a black truck was pulled to the side of the highway near an ambulance and a tow truck was spotted preparing to take a red vehicle away.
RCMP said the suspect vehicle was directly or indirectly involved in the collisions before stopping at Brunette Avenue. The suspect then attempted to flee on foot and was taken into custody a short time later.
“BC Emergency Health Services received a call at 1:04 p.m. regarding a police incident on Highway 1 near Burnette Avenue,” paramedic public information officer Brian Twaites said in a statement to Global News.
“Two ambulances with primary care paramedics, one ambulance with advanced care paramedics and a paramedic supervisor responded to the scene. Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to one patient who was transported to hospital.”
“BC Emergency Health Services received a call at 1:33 p.m. regarding a motor vehicle incident on Highway 1 near Gaglardi Way. One ambulance with primary care paramedics and one ambulance with advanced care paramedics responded to the scene. There were no patients requiring hospital transport.”