A 27-year-old woman suspected of robbing a convenience store is dead after she sped away from police officers and crashed the SUV she was driving into a downtown building.
CTV News has learned the police pursuit stemmed from a robbery that took place at 7-Eleven on Dale Boulevard in Charleswood at around 12:30 a.m.
The deadly collision shut down a section of eastbound Portage Avenue near Good Street early Monday morning.
Members of the Winnipeg Police Service tried to stop the vehicle when they spotted it near Polo Park minutes before the crash. Winnipeg Police said the vehicle was suspected of being involved in the robbery on Dale Boulevard.
A 27-year-old woman who was driving the SUV which crashed into the Buhler Centre was killed in the collision.
A 30-year-old man who was a passenger in the vehicle was hurt in the collision. He fled the scene on foot after the crash but members of the Winnipeg Police Service found and arrested the man a short distance away. He was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Winnipeg police said officers abandoned the chase and lost sight of the vehicle after they tried to pull it over because the vehicle was moving at a high rate of speed.
Police said a short time later the vehicle lost control and struck a building at the intersection of Portage Avenue and Good Street.
The 27-year-old woman was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died of her injuries.
Winnipeg police are investigating the commercial robbery.
On Monday, a memorial was placed on a light standard beside the scene of the crash. The memorial included a photo and read, "rest in peace baby sister".
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is investigating the contact police had with the vehicle prior to the crash.
The IIU was notified by police of the fatality at around 2:45 a.m. The IIU is involved because there was a fatality and because officers had tried to pursue the driver of the vehicle before the deadly crash occurred.
This is the eighteenth case for the IIU since its inception in June. Eight of those cases have involved fatalities.
