Brothers charged following Vankleek Hill joyride

Two brothers were arrested and charged with a number of criminal offences last week following a joyride between Vankleek Hill and Alexandria where two cars were damaged and two others were attempted to be stolen.

Several witnesses initially contacted The Review to report the sounds of squealing tires and a crash on High Street, near the intersection with Mill Street, last Wednesday, September 14 around 11 p.m.

A visit to the site last week revealed tire tracks along several properties, including those that would have led to a vehicle parked in a residential driveway.

This week, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) confirmed two brothers from North Glengarry were arrested in connection with that crime and a number of others.

Hawkesbury OPP Const. Pierre Dubois said officers were called to the scene after the brothers' vehicle - which witnesses described as a four-door silver sedan - crashed into a parked car and a telephone pole on High St. and fled the scene.

"From there, they followed tire tracks from the scene and roughly about 20 minutes later, they located the vehicle stopped in the driveway of a Cadieux Road farm residence in North Glengarry," Dubois said. "One male was sleeping in the vehicle's driver seat, apparently impaired by alcohol, and when they arrived on the scene, officers also saw someone walking down the driveway from the barn of the residence."

Further investigation revealed that the second male - the vehicle's passenger - had broken into a garage and attempted to steal a pickup truck and a tractor. Dubois also noted that both the suspect vehicle and the vehicle on High Street were listed as having "extensive damages," though it was not clear from the initial police report whether the suspect vehicle was stolen.

The driver, a 25-year-old man from Alexandria, was charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, exceeding 80 milligrams of blood-alcohol content, failure to remain at the scene of an accident, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

"Those are all under the Criminal Code of Canada," Dubois explained, noting the dangerous operation charge includes the damaged vehicles. "When he left the scene, he was driving very fast, erratically, squealing the tires, so all of the facts of the call in Vankleek Hill led to the dangerous operation charge."

The second male, a 21-year-old man from Seven Hills Road in North Glengarry, was charged with breaking and entering and two counts of attempted theft of a motor vehicle over $5,000.

Both were released on an undertaking given to an officer and a promise to appear in court. The elder brother will appear in L'Orignal court on September 28 and the other in Cornwall on October 12.