Sparks flew while an allegedly intoxicated driver attempted to flee police in a wild car chase on Highway 2 between Bowden and Innisfail in the early hours of Sept. 4. Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster, commander of the Olds RCMP detachment, said police received a report shortly after midnight of an intoxicated driver in an area south of Innisfail. A short time later, an officer located a 1997 Chevrolet GMT 400 SUV stopped in the middle of an intersection on Highway 54 near Highway 2. When the officer turned the police car's lights on, the vehicle sped away. The driver went the wrong way on an off-ramp to enter Highway 2's northbound lanes while heading southbound. A Mountie attempted to pull up beside the SUV to stop it but the fleeing vehicle ended up driving through a ditch onto a service road while continuing southbound. At one point, the vehicle allegedly swerved into a police cruiser, Sangster said. The vehicle then re-entered the northbound lanes of Highway 2 and continued southbound past the highway's interchange with Highway 587 at Bowden when, just south of the interchange, it cut through an opening in a cable barrier in the highway's median and entered the southbound lanes of traffic. It exited Highway 2 at Highway 587 and proceeded east for five kilometres. One of the SUV's tires was damaged, however, so that the vehicle was travelling on at least one rim and throwing sparks all over the road as it moved. Eventually, Sangster said, the rim gave out and the vehicle stopped. Jamie Lee Janke, 36, of Gunn, was arrested without incident. He is charged with impaired driving, driving with a blood-alcohol content above 0.08 per cent, dangerous driving, flight from police, assault with a weapon for allegedly swerving his vehicle into a police cruiser, and a number of Traffic Safety Act offences including driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle, improper use of a licence plate and failing to produce a driver's licence. Janke was scheduled to appear in court in Didsbury on Sept. 11. Overall, three RCMP members took part in the pursuit, Sangster said.
