A video that shows a dangerous motorcycle chase through the streets of Calgary is gaining traction after being posted online over the weekend.
The almost three-minute-long video was posted to the Calgary Reddit forum on Saturday by user “namegeneratorerror,” and appears to show the driver of a motorcycle speeding through the community of McKenzie Towne after Calgary police attempt to pull him over.
According to court documents obtained by Global News, the incident started just after 7 p.m. on July 29, 2015, as Chase Allen Cromwell of Calgary, who was 27 at the time, travelled on 52 Street S.E. on a stolen motorcycle.
The court documents state that, in an attempt to arrest Cromwell, two officers exited their vehicle and “challenged him at gunpoint,” but Cromwell evaded police and began accelerating northbound in the southbound lane for over a kilometre.
Cromwell then turned around and travelled southbound toward the officers who were pursuing him. After that, he drove the motorcycle onto a sidewalk and continued at speeds of up to 80 km/h, before turning onto Prestwick Circle S.E. and accelerating to at least 130 km/h through a playground zone.
The court documents state Cromwell lost control of the motorcycle, but continued fleeing police on foot. They state he went into a condo complex on 130 Avenue S.E. where he turned toward one of the officers, dropped his backpack, and turned to face police. It was at this time one of the officers deployed a Taser with no effect due to a heavy leather jacket Cromwell was wearing.
“The offender then assaulted the officer in the chest using his motorcycle helmet as a weapon,” court documents state.
At that point, another officer arrived to help and together they “took the offender to the ground.”
“Cromwell resisted but was subdued with pepper spray and eventually handcuffed.”
According to the court documents, police found a knife and a loaded handgun in Cromwell’s backpack, as well as 0.7 grams of methamphetamine.
WATCH: Helmet cam video shows a reckless, high-speed motorcycle ride through south east Calgary. As Carolyn Kury de Castillo reports, witnesses say it’s amazing no one was hurt in the act.
Cromwell admitted in court that he was a meth and cocaine addict, and said that his addiction fueled his criminal lifestyle.
He entered guilty pleas to numerous charges in November of 2015.
In January 2016, he was sentenced to five years for 32 offences committed over the course of one year. Some of the charges included possession of stolen property and drugs, dangerous driving, assault a police officer, carring a concealed weapon and possession of a prohibited firearm.
The video appears to have been recorded by a camera on Cromwell’s helmet.
The video was originally posted to YouTube prior to being shared on Reddit. It has since been taken down and it’s unclear who posted it or why the video is just coming to light more than two years after it was taken.
A Facebook user, who identified himself as Chase Cromwell, told Global News he originally posted the video so a friend could see it.
“I posted it to show a friend and someone else copied it or something and started posting it themselves,” he said.
“It wasn’t my intention for it to get out to so many people. But whatever, nothing I can do about it now.”
Gary Gnam lives in a condo complex near where the motorcycle ride ended and witnessed the police takedown at the end.
“It was terrible, terrible,” Gnam told Global News.
“We had a couple of folks here who didn’t like the way the police took him down, but it was the only way.
“They didn’t have any other choice. The fellow kept fighting and he was swearing and somewhat belligerent so they took him down, within a few seconds he was handcuffed.”
Gnam said the motorcycle was seen speeding down pathways and sidewalks so he’s thankful no one was hurt.
“I’m just so glad because the pathways are often busy and at the speeds that he was going, anything could’ve happened,” he said.
“And that was what I think the police were the most angry at, was that he put people into such a predicament.”
Contacted by Global News on Monday, Calgary police said they would not be commenting on the release of the video.
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