Stolen highway bus leaves trail of burned rubber through downtown streets

A good portion of the city's new downtown pavement now features a trail of burned rubber, that after a tour bus was stolen from a local hotel in the downtown core and taken for a wild and weaving ride through the streets of the city in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

One person remains in custody following the incident, with charges still to be sorted out from the events of the 3 AM hour, after members of the Prince Rupert detachment responding to noise complaints of squealing tires found the vehicle stopped on Highway 16 near the Yellowhead  Centre area suffering tire damage and inoperable.

The highway style cruiser was subsequently taken to a lot for further study, with the detachment's forensic unit leading the investigation at this point, gathering evidence and seeking to identify who may have been on the bus.

The bus was being used to transport a seniors tour group through the Northwest, alternative arrangements were made to transport them to the ferry terminal to continue with their journey.

Three segments of the trail blazed through the downtown core
on Wednesday as a stolen tour bus took to the streets

Should you have any information that may be of assistance to the RCMP you can contact the local detachment at 250-627-0700 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS

We will update this page, once the RCMP provide further background to the case file notes from the events of Wednesday.

The bus incident is just the latest in a string of high profile incidents that the RCMP have attended to in recent days, on September 5th members were called to the Rupert Lawn and Garden Centre to investigate a break in and theft.

The local detachment is also still conducting an active investigation into an armed robbery at the Hays Cove Petro Can station on August 31st.

You can review those files and others from across the Northwest from our archive page here.

Update: Charges from the stolen bus incident have now been laid against a Prince Rupert woman who will be facing charges of possession of stolen property over $5,000, her first court appearance is scheduled for November 8th.