A 22-year-old man is dead and police have another in custody after a high-speed pursuit involving a stolen truck on Monday night.
According to preliminary details provided by the chief of police, the entire pursuit was captured on camera by the service’s Air Support Unit (ASU) and shown to the family of the deceased on Tuesday afternoon.
READ MORE: Police pursuits tripled in Saskatoon over three years
Both a firearm and ammunition were found inside the stolen vehicle when everything came to an end at the intersection of Airport Drive and Circle Drive.
“The suspect vehicle was travelling at approximately 150 kilometres per hour when it struck a vehicle head-on that was turning left onto Airport Drive at Circle Drive,” Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill said.
The 31-year-old driver of the other truck, Noel LaBrash, told Global News over the phone he’s just lucky to be alive.
The 33-year-old passenger in the stolen vehicle was wanted on outstanding warrants and is now in police custody.
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After a game of cat and mouse with police for over 17 hours, officers would spot the truck reported stolen at 3:45 a.m. CT on Monday and terminate the pursuit because it was too dangerous.
That would all come to a head just after 9 p.m. on Clearwater Place, where the suspects could be boxed in by cruisers.
“I would say there were three gun shots that went off, I’m not sure. I was indoors and my dad just yelled at us and told us to get down,” said Erin Guillemin who lives on the cul-de-sac.
The police chief said an officer did discharge their firearm twice in an effort to bring the truck to a stop.
This, after it rammed a police cruiser leaving another officer trapped inside with non-life threatening injuries. According to Weighill, the female officer sustained neck and head injuries, however she’s since been discharged from hospital.
“This certainly could have been much worse specifically when the vehicle rammed the police car, it pushed it about 100 feet – right off the cul-de-sac onto the driveway.”
READ MORE: 2 kids who survived deadly crash in Sask. saved by people who jumped into slough
The truck sped away and a female suspect, who fled on foot as police closed in on the cul-de-sac, is still at large.
“Our air unit continued to track the vehicle as it sped away at a high rate of speed, disobeying numerous traffic signals.”
Moments later the fatal collision occurred with police in pursuit both in the sky and now on the ground after a cruiser intercepted at Idylwyld Drive and Circle.
The number of police evade incidents this year is still unclear but in 2014 there were 61, 120 in 2015 and 180 in 2016. According to the police chief, there is a strong correlation between police evade incidents, stolen vehicles and methamphetamine.
Approximately 60 to 65 per cent of the time when a vehicle is stolen in Saskatoon the keys are left inside and this case is no different.
“This is the fourth fatality we’ve had in two years now stemming from vehicles that have been stolen with keys in them.”
The police chief was visibly frustrated that this case, like many others, could have been prevented.
An internal review has now been launched into the incident as is standard with any police evade incident.
“They did what they thought was right, until I have an investigation done on this I’m not going to second guess anything.”
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