Winnipeg police are looking for a suspect they say got away after stealing a police cruiser Monday.
The theft happened during a sequence of events that also saw officers shoot their guns at a vehicle driving towards them and use a Taser in an arrest, according to the Winnipeg Police Service.
It happened at around 8:55 p.m., after officers spotted a stolen car being driven around Munroe Avenue and Watt Street.
A marked police car followed it into a dead-end lot, and police said that’s when the stolen car was driven towards officers, who shot at it.
“They did not hit any people. Either the suspect or anyone in the area, no one was hit,” said Const. Rob Carver.
The stolen vehicle then rammed into the police car and drove away, police said, before crashing into a building on Watt Street and Larsen Avenue.
On Monday night, an SUV with significant front-end damage could be seen near that corner.
Police said officers found one suspect in the vehicle and used a Taser to help place him under arrest.
While that was happening, police said a second suspect, who hadn’t been noticed by officers, stole their car, drove a short distance and abandoned it in the Elmwood neighbourhood.
Police are still looking for that suspect.
Carver said the incident drew significant police resources.
“This is an incredibly chaotic scene,” he said. “We’ve got officers who had to discharge their weapons, we’ve got a smashed police car, we’ve got a stolen police car, we’ve got multiple, multiple units in the Elmwood area, we’ve got a building that’s been smashed into, we have an abandoned stolen vehicle, one person under arrest where the arrest required use of force, a Taser deployed.”
Carver said it was too soon to say what charges the suspect taken into custody is facing, but he anticipates the male will face multiple charges.
