A Red Deer man is facing a number of charges after officers were led on a pursuit and sprayed with bear spray on Tuesday night.
The incident began in Red Deer at around 6 p.m. when officers found a stolen truck in a parking lot. Police laid a “tire deflation device” behind the Dodge Ram and approached the truck.
Police said the driver of the Dodge struggled with an RCMP officer before fleeing. Both rear tires were flattened in his attempt to get away.
Officers didn’t pursue the vehicle through Red Deer for safety concerns, but immediately started getting a number of reports describing a blue Dodge Ram driving erratically and dangerously, travelling in the wrong lane and running a number of red lights.
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At one point the truck struck a car in a roundabout, police said. The driver of the car was uninjured.
Red Deer RCMP laid another tire deflation device on Gaetz Avenue near 19 Street, but the truck avoided it and sped away.
Police said the driver then sped out of Red Deer and drove toward Penhold, Alta. where Innisfail RCMP got involved in the attempts to arrest the man.
The truck was driving on rims at this point and when it entered Penhold, police said the rims completely broke apart.
RCMP members from Innisfail and Blackfalds were able to arrest the driver when he abandoned the truck and tried to steal a nearby Jeep at a gas station.
While he was being arrested, police said he sprayed five officers with bear spray.
While no members of the public were injured during the pursuit, Red Deer, Innisfail and Blackfalds RCMP members suffered minor injuries as a result of the bear spray.
“Blackfalds, Red Deer and Innisfail RCMP and Police Dog Services all worked collaboratively to bring this incident to a conclusion without harm or loss of life,” Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk of the Innisfail RCMP said in a release Wednesday. “The potential for tragedy was extremely high in this situation, and this is a solemn reminder of the tremendous danger criminals in stolen vehicles pose to our communities and to the police who work so hard to apprehend them.”
Charges have not been sworn by the courts at this time, so the suspect’s name and the pending charges are not being released.
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