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‘Where are the police?’ Vancouver driver’s wild and dangerous ride caught on camera

Click to play video: 'Viewer captures car driving in circles at Main and Hastings'
Viewer captures car driving in circles at Main and Hastings
WATCH: Viewer captures car driving in circles at Main and Hastings – Jun 26, 2019

A man has been charged with dangerous driving after allegedly taking a car on a wild and dangerous ride through downtown Vancouver.

According to Vancouver police, the “erratic driver,” who investigators believe was impaired, was driving into oncoming traffic and towards pedestrians.

“Our officers are looking at still a bit of what contributed to this,” said Sgt. Jason Robillard.

“We do believe there was some alcohol and probably drugs. We’re also looking into whether or not the man’s mental state played into it.”

Police were called about a grey Toyota Camry driving towards pedestrians at a bus stop near West Georgia and Granville Street around 10 p.m.

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Not long afterward, Jonathan Dillon witnessed the vehicle speeding in tight circles in the intersection of Main Street and Hastings Street. He took out his camera and began filming the driver — who he said kept it up for “a good 10 to 15 minutes.”

In the video, the vehicle does laps in the intersection during several cycles of the traffic light, then moves to another part of Hastings where it starts doing more circles.

“Here he goes again!” Dillon can be heard exclaiming on the recording.

In the video, Dillon and can be heard remarking about people throwing things at the car and cheering and jeering at the driver.

“I was thinking where are the police? And I hope he doesn’t hit anybody. Don’t see that kind of thing every day,” he told Global News.

Police were, in fact, dealing with a fairly busy night. Frontline and Emergency Response Team (ERT) officers were also deployed around the same time as the erratic driver call to a homicide on Main Street and a standoff near South Granville Street.

According to Dillon, police eventually arrived and the car sped off, pursued by three police cruisers.

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Police said a witness followed the driver, providing updates to police who eventually located the car near Main Street and National.

“We did what’s called a ‘box and a pin’ where we were able to stop that vehicle from leaving the scene by putting our police vehicles in front of and behind it,” said Robillard.

The car’s lone occupant, 37-year-old Harpreet Gill of Surrey, was arrested and remains in custody. Police anticipate a second charge of impaired driving will be laid.

No one was injured in the incident, and police said all vehicles involved suffered little to no damage.

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