A man is in custody after a lengthy chase with police Friday that ended when the pickup truck he was driving spilled contraband cigarettes along highways 15 and 401.
The pursuit ended on the 401 at the Westbrook Road overpass after the truck struck a guardrail and rolled.
The driver of the truck is facing charges of dangerous driving, fleeing police and possession of illegal tobacco. Police have not named the man but an Intelligencer source identified him as Charles Kloetstra of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
Kloetstra was earlier this year at the centre of a court battle to remain on the reserve following his breach of a probation not to reside there. His family home is on the reserve.
An unidentified female passenger in the vehicle was taken to Kingston General Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.
The chase started in Merrickville, east of Smiths Falls, around 11:20 a.m., when the driver of the vehicle wouldn't stop for Ontario Provincial Police, according to an OPP news release.
As the truck entered Smiths Falls, police called off their pursuit.
The chase resumed on Hwy. 15 and, since the truck was spilling its illegal cargo in its wake, police had a trail to follow.
During the chase on Hwy. 15, a spike belt was deployed but it failed to stop the suspect vehicle.
Police again broke off their pursuit as the truck entered Kingston's city limits, but resumed it when the vehicle pulled into the westbound lanes of Hwy. 401.
As a cruiser drove alongside the truck, the suspect's vehicle nudged it, police say, and then the suspect vehicle struck a guard rail near the Westbrook Road overpass and rolled, scattering the remainder of its contents all over the highway.
The accident closed Hwy. 401 Friday afternoon between the Hwy. 38 and Wilton Road exits. Traffic was routed south to Hwy. 2 as police investigated the scene.
The distance between Merrickville and Kingston using the Hwy. 15 route is approximately 112 km.
John Boyle of Portland regularly travels Hwy. 15 to shop in Smiths Falls. He had left his home at 11:30 a.m. Friday and was driving north along Hwy. 15 when he noticed the debris scattered along the roadway.
"I get up around Otter Lake ... and I started seeing all of these cigarettes (on) the road," he said. "The road was damn near paved with cigarettes.
"Then coming the other way, heading south, there were about four or five OPP cars, with their lights flashing, one right after the other."
Boyle said he didn't see the vehicle police were pursuing.
On his way home, Boyle noticed that the scattered bags of contraband cigarettes enticed some drivers to make an impromptu pit stop.
"Every once in a while you'd come to a rather heavy concentration of (spilled cigarettes) rather than just strewn about," he said.
"That's where you'd have cars parked, and both men and women with bags (who) were picking up their freebie cigarettes."