By James Wood

Redcliff Batman busts impaired pantsless driver

Nov 1, 2017 | 1:24 PM

MEDICINE HAT, ALTA- The Redcliff RCMP got a helping hand from Batman last night.

Mark Andrew Lowe, a resident of Suffield, had come to Redcliff with his wife and young daughter. The family came to Redcliff to allow their daughter to trick or treat with a friend. Lowe and his wife tagged along, with Lowe dressed up as the Dark Knight.

After parking near the intersection of 1st Avenue and 4th Street, the Lowe family headed up the street to knock on doors. They made a circuit, and had been heading back to their parked car when they heard a loud crash, around 7:30 p.m.

Running up the street, they found that a driver had smashed into two parked cars along the road, coming to a halt between the smashed vehicles. Speaking with CHAT News on Wednesday morning, Lowe said he ran towards the scene of the crash, while his wife stayed with the children.

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Once he got to the smashed car, Lowe and a woman who lived along the street opened up the driver’s-side door. They found the 23-year old driver “going completely erratic” according to Lowe, smashing his hands on the steering wheel and the centre console.

“I’m full Batman suit, mask and everything, and this guy gets out, high on whatever he was on, gets out of the car, looks at me and starts to freak out,” said Lowe.

“He probably thought he was hallucinating, and then he was like ‘whoa’.”

Lowe said the man appeared to have a head injury, and was losing blood. He also appeared to be under the influence of a drug. After the woman who had come to the scene took a look at him, Lowe told the man he had to wait for an ambulance to come.

Lowe indicated the man didn’t want to sit down and wait.

“Two minutes after that, he undid his pants and pulled his pants down, and started to move away,” said Lowe.

“Then he came back and started ranting and raving. He was completely out of it.”

Lowe and the woman continued to stay with the man as he wandered around the street, eventually making his way into a nearby backyard, where he smashed a resident’s barbecue. His pants never returned to his body in that time.

“He was literally just smashing the BBQ up and down in the yard,” said Lowe.

Once firefighters, police, and an ambulance showed up, the man was taken into custody. Afterwards, Lowe checked on his wife and the kids, heading back home to Suffield the same night. He hopes his next Halloween isn’t as exciting.

“To me, the way he reacted to me, he probably thought he was in a scene from Batman, and I was getting the bad guy type of thing,” said Lowe.

“I saw the funny side of it, because it was Halloween, but funny side aside, it could have been a lot worse.”

He plans on dressing up as Batman next year.

Corporal Shane Ryan of the Redcliff RCMP confirmed that the man was arrested on Tuesday night, and charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, and breaches of court conditions.

Ryan also warned against citizens attempting to detain offenders, though he thought the idea of Batman helping in this incident was “really cool”. As for the man’s lack of pants, he said the incident was a “one-off” for Redcliff.

“That’s not a common occurrence,” said Ryan.

“That kind of stuff, I’ve seen and heard before in policing, but it’s rare. If my kids were out trick or treating, I wouldn’t want them to come across that.”

No one was hurt during the incident, besides the impaired driver.