Three people were arrested after a car chase that ended up involving the Air1 helicopter, Winnipeg police say.
On Friday at 8:25 p.m. a general patrol unit was near River Avenue and Osborne Street when they saw a sedan with no rear licence plate and a hanging front plate.
Police say the vehicle description matched one that was stolen on March 16 from the 100 block of Marion Street.
They say the sedan was spotted two hours earlier in the Logan-C.P.R area and the driver starting moving recklessly and fled.
While searching the area, the unit was flagged down by a bystander who had seen the sedan driving the wrong way down Stradbrook Avenue.
Officers say they found the vehicle as it drove westbound on Wellington Crescent. The occupants in the vehicle attempted to bail near Academy Road, but were contained by responding units. The driver then rammed a marked police vehicle and took off, nearly striking an officer.
At 8:41 p.m. police say the sedan was reacquired on Grant Avenue near the West District Station. Air1 was assigned and began to track the vehicle as it drove at a high rate of speed.
Police say the sedan was monitored as it fled through Assiniboine Park, Tuxedo and South Tuxedo areas.
With the assistance of Air1, ground units used several tire deflation devices and the sedan’s tires began to deflate but the driver refused to stop and continued driving as the tires began to disintegrate.
Police say the sedan later entered a parking lot in the Tuxedo industrial area and rammed two police vehicles as they tried to stop it from fleeing.
At 8:54 p.m. the sedan had sustained significant damage and came to a stop near Sterling Lyon Parkway and Kenaston Boulevard. The three occupants were arrested.
Two 36-year-old women and one 17-year-old girl were arrested and charged, and one of the women was released on an undertaking.