N.S. man charged after fleeing traffic stop, crashing head-on into police vehicle

A man from Dartmouth, N.S., is facing charges after allegedly fleeing a traffic stop and crashing into a police vehicle.

In a release, the RCMP said officers with the Halifax district were conducting traffic enforcement at a checkpoint on Highway 7 in Lake Echo when a GMC Terrain “briefly stopped and then fled.”

The vehicle was quickly located on Linda Lane, where police attempted to do another traffic stop, but “the driver of the vehicle, now travelling on the dead-end street, refused to comply.”

“A passenger then exited the vehicle and fled on foot while the driver turned the GMC around one police vehicle and collided head on with another,” the release said.

The RCMP officer who was driving the vehicle suffered minor injuries, as did a 33-year-old female passenger who was sitting in the front of the GMC.

The passenger who fled the vehicle, a 34-year-old man from Lake Echo, was not injured and returned to the scene of the collision to speak with police.

The 39-year-old man who was driving the GMC was also taken to hospital for minor injuries.

“RCMP officers observed that the driver was displaying signs of impairment, however the driver refused to provide a sample of blood,” the release said. “The driver also initially falsely identified himself to RCMP officers.”

The man was charged with:

• dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm;
• flight from police;
• failure to stop at the scene of an accident involving bodily harm;
• impaired operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm;
• refusal of a demand;
• assault with a Weapon;
• assaulting a Peace Officer;
• two counts of obstructing a peace officer.

He was held in custody and was scheduled to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court Tuesday.