A Riverview resident who had her car rear-ended on Thursday is questioning why a Codiac RCMP drug impairment detection officer wasn’t available to respond to the scene.
Laura Crawley says her car was struck by a driver she believes was impaired by drugs, and she says police let him go.
“He just plowed right into me, he did not slow down, it was like he did not see me or react or anything,” Crawley told Global News Friday.
She says the collision happened while she was stopped at a red light at Gunningville Bridge in Riverview around 11 a.m.
Crawley says she was driving in front of the car that hit her and could see it weaving all over the road before it stuck the rear of her car at high speed.
She claims the male driver got out of his car and was showing what she insists were obvious signs of impairment.
“I thought he had been drinking,” Crawley said.
She says an eye witness called 911. Crawley says police questioned the driver in the back of a cruiser for an hour and a half, and what happened next shocked her.
“There was no one available”
“The officer said he had not been drinking but that he was high on something so they were trying to get a drug tester, and it turned out there was no one available.”
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She claims officers at the scene tried to reach an officer trained to administer drug tests to respond, but was told that no one was available.
“So they let the guy leave after an hour and a half, he walked away,” Crawley told Global News.
She says she called the detachment to complain and was told by the supervisor on shift that only five officers in the Codiac detachment are trained to administer drug tests.
“None of them were available – two of them were out of town and one was on vacation so there was no one available,” Crawley said.
“I think that is unacceptable there should always be at least one drug tester available 24/7.”
Crawley claims her neck was injured slightly in the collision but she’s concerned that someone could have been killed.
“I could not wrap my head around it, that they could let a guy walk away that they knew was high,” Crawley said.
She is considering filing a formal complaint with the RCMP about the incident.
Not enough evidence to lay charges
New Brunswick RCMP confirm there was no available trained officer to administer the drug test at the time of the collision.
“We certainly did not have enough evidence to lay any charges and the drug recognition expert there was not one available at the time of the incident,” said Const. Julie Rogers-Marsh.
Rogers-Marsh said she doesn’t know why no officer was available, or if there was anyone on shift who could have responded to the call.
She also would not say how many officers on the Codiac RCMP force are trained to conduct drug tests, nor whether there is at least one on shift 24/7.
Rogers-Marsh said the officers who did respond to the collision had authority to lay impairment charges but they were not formally trained as drug recognition experts.
“I think it is important for people to understand that we do have these experts that are posted to all the different detachments in all the different districts including Codiac,” she said.
“But if they are tied up on other calls and get requested to assist on something like this they may not necessarily be available to assist.”
The driver was issued a ticket and then released.
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