Winnipeg police had their hands full Thursday morning due to a bizarre overnight situation that saw a suspect driving off in a marked police car.
With the help of the Air 1 helicopter, police tracked a stolen car found in the North End to the Flying J gas bar in Headingley around 2:30 a.m.
Cst. Rob Carver said the stolen car was driving erratically at points.
While at the gas bar, the situation escalated, and police said the suspect stole a police cruiser while officers were busy protecting civilians at the scene.
“It looks like they attempted to carjack a vehicle at the gas bar,” said Carver Thursday afternoon, stressing that they didn’t have all the information on what happened yet, and officers are still investigating and writing reports.
Carver said two suspects were in the vehicle.
“Both suspects fled, one was able to circle back, and get into a police car, and stole a police car,” he said.
Winnipeg police and RCMP chased the stolen cop car, and eventually arrested the suspect at another Flying J, this one east of Portage la Prairie.
Due to a heavy use of police resources in chasing down the suspect, police said more than 300 other calls for service had to be put on the backburner.
Carver said those calls would be dealt with but they have to be triaged and that means more serious calls will be investigated first.
A Winnipeg police car being stolen is unusual, said Carver, but added making sure people were safe was the officers’ number one priority.
“If I think somebody’s in danger over there, I’m gonna jump out of my car … not stop the car and pull the keys out, I’m going to stop the car and get out. I’m lessess worried about the car, than we are making sure people are safe.
“I’ve never actually seen anything like it, we were talking about it this morning… Everyone in the police services is stunned at how this unfolded.
“It’s just not something I’ve seen.”
Carver said he wasn’t sure how the situation ultimately came to an end, but did say Air 1 did make the operational decision to land in a field when their fuel reserves were low.
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