3 teens charged after Winnipeg cops struck by stolen car

A trio of Winnipeg teenagers have been charged after three police officers were struck by a stolen vehicle Monday evening.

The officers saw a teenager identified as a repeat car thief driving an SUV they believed to be stolen in the city's North End neighbourhood just after 8 p.m. on Monday.

They pulled the vehicle over near College Avenue and Sinclair Street, but when the officers attempted to arrest the male driver, he allegedly rammed police vehicles, injuring three officers.

One officer discharged his firearm, police said. No one was injured in the shooting.

The driver fled the scene and later abandoned the vehicle, police said. The driver and two 15-year-old girls believed to have been passengers in the vehicle were found a short distance from the scene and arrested.

Monday's incident is the latest in four this year in which car thieves have taken aim at police officers. Const. Pat Chabidon said police are concerned by what appears to be a troubling trend.

"There's a difference between the ones who steal cars and joyride and the ones who steal it and can hardly wait to get stopped by police to get into a smash-up derby with police," he said.

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with dangerous driving, assault with a weapon, flight from police, possession of stolen property, theft over $5,000 and several charges related to failing to comply with probation or sentence conditions.

Police said the teen had been designated a high-risk or Level 4 offender in the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS), a program that monitors youth and young offenders considered at risk of stealing vehicles.

The two girls were each charged with possession of stolen property, and one was also charged with theft over $5,000.

The suspects cannot be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Teen removed GPS bracelet: police

The police officers involved in Monday evening's events had been in the North End neighbourhood searching for another teenager, also described as a repeat car thief.

That teen had also been designated a Level 4 offender under the WATSS program, and had been wearing a GPS tracking device as part of a pilot project launched by the province earlier this month.

The teen had cut off the GPS ankle bracelet, police said.

At last word, he had not been found.

Normally quiet neighbourhood shaken

Joseph Ptteebouriot, who lives on College Street, told CBC News he was watching television in the evening when he heard two loud bangs that sounded like gunshots.

"I went to the window and saw a guy rolling around on the boulevard," he said. "He looked hurt. When I saw it, I figured he either broke his arm or broke his ribs."

None of the officers was seriously injured, police said. One was treated in hospital for minor injuries and released.

Residents of the Garden Grove neighbourhood, about 20 blocks northwest of the incident, saw police arrest a young man near the corner of Haddon Road and Tallman Street.

Michelle Moncado said she and her husband, Diego, counted 20 officers in several nearby yards. They then saw officers bring someone from their backyard to the front.

"It was right in our driveway. There was a cop car there, and they handcuffed him and had the guy pinned against the car," she said.

Moncado said the situation was out of the ordinary in her neighbourhood, which she described as usually quiet.

"We have a two- and four-year-old, so the first thing is we put them in the basement because you don't know if shots were fired," she said. "It's scary."