WESTLOCK – No charges have been laid following a Tuesday-night downtown incident that although “looked big” and generated plenty of social media rabble, really wasn’t.
Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird said they received a disturbance call from the 106th Street area east of the Legion in the evening of Nov. 23 and while four RCMP cruisers were on site over the course of a few hours, the incident was minor in nature.
“It was a mischief call … this morning I saw some social-media posts as well,” said Baird in a Wednesday-morning interview. “We had some traffic guys working that night who were able to respond and assist, so it ended up looking bigger than what it actually was. Most other nights if traffic wouldn’t have been there, there would have been two officers.
“So right now it’s still under investigation and there are no charges.”
No accidents following icy morning
Despite area highways and roads being extremely slippery following early-morning rain Nov. 25, RCMP phones were quiet.
Baird himself drove into Westlock from St. Albert Thursday morning and noted no vehicles in the ditch, while the complaint line was silent.
Meanwhile at 6:15 a.m., Ponoka RCMP Traffic Services was dispatched to a multi-vehicle collision north bound on the Highway 2 at the Crandall overpass. The preliminary investigation indicates that a semi-tractor trailer unit had jackknifed on the highway and was subsequently struck by a second semi-tractor trailer unit. A third tractor trailer unit was unable to stop and slid into to the crash scene. In a release, police note that there was one fatality reported — details regarding any other injuries or the number total vehicles involved was not available.
As of noon Nov. 25, the north-bound lanes of the highway were closed and northbound traffic was being rerouted at the Highway 53 overpass and was expected to continue for several hours.
“I was quite surprised as there wasn’t one car in the ditch (coming north to Westlock). People were going nice and slow — I was hearing that in Edmonton and on Highways 16 and 2 that there were semis jackknifed and lots of accidents,” said Baird. “We had no calls into the detachment that I’m aware of, but if there’s been fender benders I’m sure we’ll hear about them in the next few days.”
