Manitoba, Canada - RCMP Officer's Cruiser Stolen - Officer Shoots at Stolen Cruiser
An RCMP officer in rural Manitoba shot at his own police vehicle in an
attempt to stop three suspected car thieves who were driving away in the
cruiser.
The officer, responding to a complaint about erratic driving last Wednesday near
Amaranth, west of Lake Manitoba, spotted a person driving a vehicle believed to
have been stolen.
The officer, who was alone, turned on his siren, but the driver didn't stop,
according to an RCMP release issued Tuesday. After a five-kilometre chase, the
driver pulled over and three people fled the vehicle on foot.
RCMP officials say the officer had a "physical confrontation" with one of the
suspects while attempting to arrest him, but the man got away.
All three of the suspects managed to double back and took off in the
officer's police car, almost hitting him with his own vehicle as they drove
away. The officer fired one round from his service pistol in an attempt to
disable the car as it sped away.
With the help of a passing motorist, the officer managed to follow the suspects.
The stolen cruiser was found a distance away, stuck after running over another
road's approach.
One of the suspects, a 26-year-old man, was arrested at the scene. Police
used tracking dogs to locate the other two men, aged 22 and 17, in a grain
elevator about a kilometre away from the cruiser.
The three men face numerous criminal charges. RCMP will also carry out an
administrative review of the case, as is mandatory whenever an officer fires a
gun