Police block off northeast Calgary in hunt for car thief

Calgary police were searching the northeast neighbourhood of Abbeydale for a suspect Monday after two vehicles were stolen and involved in collisions while eluding officers.

At about 11 a.m. MT, police noticed a grey Grand Prix speeding along 68th Street N.E., said duty Insp. Rob Williams.

As officers tried to move closer to the erratically-moving vehicle to get a look at the licence plate, the Grand Prix smashed into another car at an intersection.

"They were more or less trying to close the gap … and there wasn't a police pursuit at that point," said Williams.

'It looks like he's been actively car prowling or some other kinds of break-ins.' —Duty Insp. Rob Williams, Calgary Police Service

The driver of the Grand Prix abandoned the vehicle and ran toward an Esso car wash on 68 Street N.E. near 22nd Avenue. Officers covering both openings to the car wash thought they had the man cornered, said Williams.

However, the suspect stole a silver Lexus SUV that was left running while its owner had stepped out to turn on a vacuum. Williams said it was not a carjacking, as previously reported.

"One officer engaged in a bit of a foot chase with the vehicle because traffic was congested, in the hopes that he could just pull the driver out of the car while he was stuck in traffic, but that didn't happen," said Williams.

The SUV continued on to the intersection of 68th Street and 16th Avenue N.E. where it found its way blocked by a Toyota Corolla.

The SUV rammed the Toyota until it was able to push it out of its way, and took off again.

"It [was] very terrifying," said Ali Mohammed, who was in the Toyota with his wife.

"He crossed the red light and he hit for my car and he go back, and again hit from behind. He hit us twice and then he run away and the police is also behind him," he recalled.

A tail light was smashed and the driver-side window and door no longer open, but Ali said he's grateful he and his wife were not hurt.

"Oh yeah, it was wild," said witness David Egan who was driving behind Ali. "Something out of a movie or something."

A police cruiser was able to catch up to and block the SUV. However, the offender backed up into the cruiser, then sped off. The chase was quickly abandoned because of the high speeds, and because "the danger outweighed the necessity to pursue," said police.

Police found the Lexus abandoned on an Abbeydale street with the engine running.

Officers are searching the area for a heavy-set Caucasian male, about 25 years old, with a shaved head and wearing a dark jacket with a grey hooded sweatshirt underneath.

"We've had many calls in the Abbeydale area ... that people are saying there's someone coming through the yard and casing vehicles. So we've got the area pretty well locked down and we're searching for him right now," said Williams.

"Our hopes are that we catch him before he steals another vehicle and gets out of the area."

The first vehicle, the Grand Prix, was stolen and appears to be full of stolen property, said Williams.

"So we're going to be going through that and fingerprinting it. Looks like there's pieces of identification, credit cards and the like. It looks like he's been actively car prowling or some other kinds of break-ins," he told CBC News.