Around 1 in the morning on July 17, Oak Bay Police were called to Cattle Point to a report of an SUV in the ocean.
Deputy chief Ray Bernoties said there was no one in the vehicle, but it was one that had been stolen from the West Shore on Sunday.
“Their first priority, of course, was to determine if there was someone in the vehicle,” Bernoties said. “[They] were able to confirm it was simply a dumped stolen vehicle, dumped in the ocean. C-Tow successfully got the vehicle out of the ocean and it was towed to a tow yard locally.”
C-Tow is a company that tows vessels in the Victoria region, and helped Oak Bay police with this recovery.
Bernoties said the alleged thief had fled on foot from the scene.
He said C-Tow removed the 2012 Toyota Sequoia during the night, which was necessary because it was getting pulled further from shore.
“The vehicle was moving further and further from shore, estimates are it was about 90 feet from shore when C-Tow was there,” Bernoties said. “These are trained professionals so they made the decision and were able to get the vehicle safely to shore.”
He said they had to use divers, initially to determine if there was someone in the vehicle, but also to tow it out.
“My understanding is they had to use a diver as well, which is impressive but dangerous to do at the middle of the night in the ocean,” Bernoties said. “This thief put lives at risk by deciding to dump the vehicle in the manner they did.”
The file has been transferred to the West Shore RCMP to determine whether anything was stolen from the vehicle.
West Shore RCMP constable Matt Baker said the investigation is ongoing, and he cannot comment on the incident at this time.