RCMP say the car driven into Yellowknife’s Explorer Hotel hit four people and the driver, a 60-year-old, was impaired.
A car drove into the hotel’s foyer on Christmas Eve, shattering its doors and damaging the elevators. Some people were temporarily trapped inside elevator cars as a result.
In a Monday news release, police said Natallia Salodkina faces charges related to impaired and dangerous driving alongside four counts of assault with a weapon and one of mischief.
“Despite pedestrians being struck, no serious injuries were reported to the police,” RCMP stated.
Nunastar, which owns the Explorer Hotel, also said nobody was seriously hurt in the incident.
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“Our hotel continues to operate fully with no outlets impacted. Guest access for both restaurant and hotels has been diverted to the conference centre entrance,” said Nunastar’s Ben Cox on Monday.
“Our focus is getting the hotel entrance and elevators repaired as quick as possible.”
Salodkina remains in custody, police said, and an investigation continues.
According to RCMP, she provided breath samples of more than three times the legal limit.
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The charges against her have not been proven in court.
Circulating on social media, what appears to be security camera footage shows the vehicle coming up the hotel’s access road before veering right, missing a parked car outside the foyer, coming to a brief halt having burst through the main doors and then continuing on toward the elevators. (Nunastar has not released any footage and the video could not be independently verified.)
The footage appeared to answer one key question many Yellowknifers had: How, on a narrow and sloping access road perpendicular to the entrance, had the driver managed to get the car there in the first place?
But a second obvious question remains unanswered: Why?
The City of Yellowknife, responding on Monday to a Christmas Eve request for information from its fire division, said many staff were away and it was prioritizing urgent matters.
