Kingston, Ont. person facing impaired driving charges following police chase

Kingston Police vehicle in Kingston, Ont.

Police in Kingston, Ont. say an individual is facing charges related to dangerous and impaired driving after nearly crashing into a police vehicle and failing to stop in the city’s downtown area.

Officers say they were on general patrol in the area of Division and Princess streets shortly after midnight on Wednesday when they saw a silver van speeding in the wrong direction westbound on Princess Street while they were driving southbound on Division Street through the intersection.

Police say the vehicle proceeded through the intersection, nearly striking their vehicle and forcing them to take an immediate evasive maneuver to avoid a collision.

“The police cruiser had been travelling through the intersection on a green light at the time of the incident. The van also narrowly missed striking pedestrians, who were forced to jump out of the way of the oncoming vehicle,” Kingston Police said in a news release on Wednesday.

Though police activated their emergency lights and sirens, the vehicle continued to drive dangerously westbound on Princess Street.

Despite attempts to pull the driver over at the intersection of Princess and Albert streets, the suspect refused to stop and managed to flee, police say, noting that the vehicle was last seen going east on York Street from Albert Street.

Police say they received information at around 12:45 a.m. saying the vehicle was parked on Princess Street near Barrie Street.

With the help of a witness who had seen the driver exit the vehicle and enter a “nearby establishment”, police were able to arrest the individual at around 12:55 a.m.

Upon arrest and testing, police found that the accused had more than one and a half times the legal limit of alcohol in their system.

Jozef Kroeg, 33, was charged with dangerous and impaired driving and failing to stop for police. They are also facing a driver’s licence suspension for 90 days.

The vehicle was seized and impounded for seven days.