A Nova Scotia man is facing multiple charges, including attempted murder, after allegedly striking a police officer with a vehicle.
In a release, the Bridgewater Police Service said officers responded to a complaint of a male “openly drinking liquor” inside a truck outside a Tim Hortons restaurant in Bridgewater, N.S., Sunday at 10:30 p.m.
The release said officers found the truck, a 1999 Ford Ranger, and attempted to stop it.
“When the truck pulled onto a dead-end street, it appeared that the driver, who was the lone occupant, was attempting to exit the vehicle,” it said.
“An officer exited the police vehicle to apprehend the driver, however the driver of the truck rapidly spun the vehicle around striking the driver side of the police vehicle before swerving directly at the BPS officer.”
It said the truck hit the officer, who went over the hood and suffered a broken foot. “The driver fled the area making no attempts to stop,” the release said.
Officers, with assistance from the Lunenburg District RCMP, found the truck abandoned near vacant cottages in Middle Cornwall, Lunenburg County, at 2:30 a.m. Monday. A cell phone was also found in the vehicle with the sim card removed.
“A review of in-car PC footage confirmed the driver appeared to swerve to strike the police officer and also identified the driver as Joshua Creaser, a 25-year-old resident of Aylesford, Kings County, Nova Scotia,” the release said.
Creaser was charged with attempted murder, flight from police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failure to remain at an accident causing bodily harm.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, and Creaser was located and arrested by the Kings District RCMP Monday afternoon. Investigators with the Bridgewater Police Service were travelling to Kingston Tuesday morning to take over custody and continue the investigation, the release said.
Creaser will appear in court when available, the release said.
It also said he has a “serious history” of impaired driving offences dating back to 2016.
This includes a charges of impaired driving causing death in relation to an incident in South Greenwood, Kings County, on Dec. 19, 2021. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he will be arraigned on those charges on June 29.
Danny MacPhee, deputy chief of the Bridgewater Police Service, said Creaser was not charged with impaired driving in this most recent case because it was too late after the incident to give him a breath test.
“The issue we always have is time. You have to find them and get a result from them within a certain time period to lay an impaired driving charge,” he said.
“Unless you actually had physical contact with them and detected liquor, smelled it on their breath or were able to get results from a breath test device, you can’t proceed with an impaired driving charge.”