‘Escalation of violence’: police cars rammed, officer fires gun

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This article was published 11/11/2019 (1621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg officer fired their gun at a suspect vehicle in one of three Remembrance Day incidents in which police cruiser cars were rammed by stolen vehicles.

Officers observed a stolen vehicle being driven in the area of Pembina Highway and Point Road around 6:10 p.m. Monday, Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek told media Tuesday.

When they tried to stop the vehicle, the driver reportedly rammed the stolen vehicle into two cruisers and fled the scene. During the altercation, at least one WPS officer fired at least one shot.

“That stolen vehicle rammed both cruisers cars. During the course of that interaction, a firearm was discharged by one of the officers,” Skrabek said. “It will take investigators a couple of days to determine (if someone was shot), but right now nobody has come forward saying they have been injured.”

After fleeing the scene, the suspect vehicle was driven into a fence in the area of Corydon Avenue and Queenston Street.

A heavy police presence could be seen in the area throughout the evening, with WPS closing a section of Academy Road for several hours. No arrests had yet been announced.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba — the province’s police watchdog — has been notified of the shooting incident and is monitoring the case.

Earlier Monday, around 5:55 p.m., officers were in the Bridgwater Forest area when they saw a vehicle being driven in a “suspicious manner.”

After following the vehicle into a parking lot, police said the vehicle pulled a U-turn and drove “head-on” towards a cruiser.

“(The vehicle) swerved, hitting two garbage cans and pushed them into the rear side of the police vehicle. The police vehicle was pushed a short distance,” the WPS said in a news release.

The suspect vehicle fled from the scene. No arrests have been made.

Hours later, around midnight, officers reported a stolen vehicle being driven in the area of Portage Avenue and St. Mary Avenue. Officers followed and attempted to conduct a traffic stop in the area of Broadway and Langside Street.

“The stolen vehicle accelerated and struck the front passenger side of the cruiser. The stolen vehicle drove onto the sidewalk, around the cruiser car and onto Broadway, striking a second cruiser car,” police said.

Two men fled from the vehicle on foot. During pursuit, a suspect discharged bear spray, which hit two officers, before being arrested in the area of Broadway and Furby Street.

A second suspect was arrested on the 200 block of Furby. Police said he refused to comply with officer demands and, as a result, was hit with a conducted energy weapon.

Both suspects, as well as two officers, were taken to hospital. All of them have since been released.

Two men, ages 28 and 31, both from Winnipeg, were arrested.

Skrabek said having three separate incidents in which WPS cruisers were rammed in one night is unprecedented.

“It is a complete escalation of violence on the part of the offenders. We’ve seen it in the past, but not to this magnitude,” she said.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe