A Winnipeg man says he felt compelled to help catch a car thief, but the lengths the man went to in order to keep up with the suspect raise questions about public safety.

The man caught a dramatic police takedown on video, but what the video doesn’t show is the high speed pursuit the man says the suspect led him on.

"I saw the guy jump in the car and take off, and then I see the owner of the car jump in the street and jump in front of my car and he yelled the guy stole his car," said Danijel Gavronovic.

In a split second, Gavronovic made the decision to help the total stranger. The man jumped in the car with him and the chase was on.

"Oh yeah, we were driving faster,” said Gavronovic. “I was scared of the intersections and stops, especially the red lights. I slowed down each time, but I went through the red light after him not to lose him."

Realizing he was being chased, the suspect floored it, and Gavronovic kept pace. He said at one point he was driving 150 km/h.

The whole time, the stolen car's owner kept police updated on the situation and as the cops moved in they told the pair to back off.

Gavronovic is proud of the role he played in helping recover the stolen vehicle but the way he went about it - excessively speeding, blowing through stop signs and ignoring traffic signals - raises the issue of public safety.

"There could have been a serious accident involving their car,” said Judy Murphy, president and CEO of Safety Services Manitoba. “There could have been a serious accident involving other cars or individuals that were on the street at that time."

Safety Services Manitoba says recovering stolen property is best left to the police. Regular Winnipeggers CTV spoke to agree.

"Leave it to the authorities,” said Wes Loewen. “As helpless as you are in that situation, but going 130 kilometres, blowing stops signs, red lights, you're putting everyone else at risk as well. You're being very selfish in that regards."

“If they stop and they want to beat you up or something, you don't know if that's actually going to happen,” said Jackie Elias. “You don't know if you can defend yourself."

Despite the criticism, Gavronovic stands by his actions. "Yeah, I would do it again,” he said. “It's adrenaline. I don't know. I would."

Winnipeg police say the arrest stemmed from a high-risk traffic stop and say there was no high speed pursuit on their part. They say they took the suspect into custody but have not released further details.

- With a report by Ben Miljure