Winnipeg police officer gets a lift from a citizen, nabs their suspect

Winnipeg Police are thanking a driver who helped officers nab a suspect in downtown Winnipeg Wednesday.

“Our officers downtown were involved in a call where a person of interest had fled the area, and our officers gave chase,” Const. Andrea Lefort said. “With the heat and the amount of gear that they’re wearing, it became a little bit lengthy and definitely very hot.”

“An amazing citizen pulled over and offered one of our officers a ride and was able to get our officer from one point to another point where they believed this person was still trying to evade police, and it actually ended up leading to the arrest.”

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The temperature at the time was about 26 degrees Celsius, feeling more like 36 thanks to the humidity.

Lefort didn’t elaborate on the nature of the incident officers were involved in, but said she’d never heard of anything like this happening before.

“I don’t know of it ever happening before but that’s not to say it hasn’t,” she said. “It definitely was a very kind act by the person who saw one of our officers and we really appreciated it and wanted to send a bit of a shout out.”

But Lefort said while police appreciated the assistance today, the public doesn’t need to step in when an officer is chasing someone.

“It’s not something that we look for — we’re not asking for the public to get involved and help us with arrests,” she said. “But in this case, it’s just the stars aligning and it really being a help on a day such as today in the area and with the length of time in the pursuit.”