Driver charged after RCMP cruiser rammed near Portage la Prairie
Police say car was stolen in Winnipeg, was seen driving erratically in wrong lanes of Trans-Canada
A Winnipeg man is behind bars after RCMP say a wild ride down the Trans-Canada Highway ended with a crash into the back of a police car just outside Portage la Prairie Thursday.
Police in Headingley started receiving complaints about a northbound vehicle being driven dangerously on Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway near Highway 3 shortly before 11 p.m.
By 11:15 p.m. the same vehicle was reported to be driving erratically in the wrong lanes on the Trans-Canada near Elie, Man., about 45 kilometres west of Winnipeg.
RCMP in Portage la Prairie began patrolling the highway looking for the vehicle and say the driver nearly hit a patrol car while speeding west in the eastbound lane around 11:40 p.m.
Police lost sight of the vehicle. They were checking to see if a vehicle stopped at a train crossing just east of Portage la Prairie was the one they were looking for when the suspect vehicle rammed them from behind at high speed.
The officers were able to get out of their cruiser and arrest the driver.
Both the officers and the driver were taken to hospital as a precaution and later released.
Police say the vehicle had been stolen in Winnipeg.
A 41-year-old man from Winnipeg is facing a slew of charges including theft of a vehicle and two counts of assaulting a police officer.
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