POLICE BEAT: Heart attack victim leaves wake of destruction in hospital parking lot
By Erin Perkins
A 47 year-old man left a wake of destruction in the parking lot of the Boundary Regional Hospital before dying of a heart attack on Saturday, March 16.
Grand Forks RCMP were called in at 5:53 a.m. after a staff member pulled into the parking lot getting ready to start their shift and found a destroyed Mazda 3 in the parking lot and a pickup truck crashed into the northeast corner of the hospital Emergency wing.
Grand Forks resident Arnold Ulmer had driven himself to the Emergency room after experiencing heart attack like symptoms, said Grand Forks RCMP staff sergeant Jim Harrison. He pulled up to the front door of the hospital and before putting the vehicle in park and getting out, he had another episode.
The vehicle went into reverse, smashed into a parked Mazda 3, destroying the vehicle and ripping a front wheel away from the pickup truck, said Harrison. The vehicle then went around in two 45-meter (150-foot) circles around the parking lot, still in reverse, before smashing into the side of the hospital, rupturing a natural gas line and causing a gas leak.
When police arrived on scene, the officer pulled the victim from the truck and administered CPR but to no avail. Ulmer was declared deceased.
Grand Forks Fire Rescue secured the area and vented the gas from the building. The hospital maintenance staff turned off the gas leak and then they repaired it.
No one else was hurt in the incident and no one had to be evacuated from the hospital, said Harrison.
The BC Coroners Service will be conducting an autopsy to confirm cause of death, although a heart attack is likely the cause, said Harrison.
Nine Christina Lake vacation homes targeted by thieves last week
Grand Forks RCMP are investigating nine separate home invasions in the East Lake Drive area of Christina Lake that happened between Friday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9.
The first report came in on Tuesday, March 11 when a home was broken into in the early morning hours, said Harrison.
While all the other break-ins happened to homes that were unoccupied, the final one was not. The resident heard someone breaking in and disturbed the man before he could steal anything. The man ran out, got into a dark-coloured SUV that was driven by a second man and drove off, said Harrison. The men were last seen driving east on Highway 3 at 1:40 a.m., said Harrison.
As for the other break-ins, Harrison said they were all reported within a few days of the last incident.
“A small amount of items were taken, some televisions, some long gun firearms that had been secured in a safe that had been broken open,” said Harrison.
While not unusual for break and enters to happen to vacation homes at the lake, it is unusual for them to be reported so soon after they’ve occurred, said Harrison.
“Nine in a weekend is very unusual,” said Harrison. “A lot (of break and enter complaints) come in but are not reported on until later. It is unusual if they’re detected all at the same time.”
Most of the homes were forcibly entered either by breaking a window or the latches on a door. None of the homes had alarm systems, said Harrison.
The two men are not believed to be from this area.
If you have some information to share with police about this case please call the Grand Forks detachment at 250-442-8288 or you can leave an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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