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Medicine Hat man receives LPS Chief’s Certificate of Recognition

Mar 4, 2018 | 8:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE –  The evening of Nov. 26, 2017, was one that Kale Lewchak won’t soon forget.
 
He was stopped along Scenic Drive near Hwy 3 just before 9:30 p.m. when he saw a car rush past his, hit another vehicle and then a guardrail.
 
“I seen the driver kinda try jump out of his vehicle and the officer started takin’ after him. And he grabbed his one arm, so I took off to help him, cause he was being resistive [sic] and I got him to the ground and I got his arm out from underneath him, and I helped cuff him.”
 
Lewchak says he and the officer then went to check on a young girl driving the vehicle that was hit and helped her to get out and get to safety.
 
Sen. Cst. Marco Pagliericci had noticed the suspect vehicle earlier because it had no license plate. He decided to follow the driver and turned on his emergency lights.
 
“He decided not to stop, drove right beside this gentleman who was stopped at the light, so he drove right on the curb almost, and then as he entered the intersection there was a flow of traffic going northbound and he basically …. a young girl driving a vehicle t-boned him, and t-boned him good, too. It was a good accident because she was doing at least 60. So the accident destroyed his car, but he wasn’t injured.”
 
The accident pushed the vehicle into a guardrail, and the suspect climbed out of a window and tried to run away.
 
“He [Kale] was just at the light and he immediately came out of his vehicle and just helped me to control this person… once I had him secured, I told him to check on the victim.”
 
The 16-year old girl driving the other vehicle was in shock, but otherwise ok. Pagliericci says it’s the second time in his career that a citizen has helped him at a critical time, and he’s grateful for that.
 
“I’ve been doing this for 18 years, and I’ve done a lot of arrests, believe me. When you see that, you don’t know the feeling. It’s awesome,” he grins.
 
Lewchak, who works at Medicine Hat’s remand centre, says he’s was happy to help out.
 
“You have to be careful. The officer basically had everything under control, it’s that I just went out to aid him cause he had no assistance, and I noticed his one arm was still underneath him, and he wouldn’t give his arm up, so I just helped tear it out and help cuff him.”
 
For his efforts, Lewchak was awarded the Chief’s Certificate of Recognition by Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis at Wednesday’s Police Commission meeting. His parents also attended, and his employer gave him the afternoon off to receive the award.
 
Police allege the driver, 39-year old Joshua Michael Hiott, was impaired by drugs. He was charged with a number of offences including dangerous driving, impaired driving, possession of stolen property and possession of break-in tools. The collision forced the closure of Scenic Drive for more than an hour in both directions.