Police officers in a northern Manitoba community say they were threatened by a man with an axe after they responded to a call about a vehicle rollover early Sunday afternoon.

Around 12:15 p.m., RCMP responded to a report of a rollover near Jumping Point in Cross Lake, a First Nation nearly 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

But as Mounties were on their way to the scene, two First Nation safety officers, who arrived at the scene first, notified RCMP that the driver was outside the rolled vehicle, carrying an axe and threatening to harm the safety officers, police said in a Tuesday news release.

When RCMP arrived, the officers saw the man walking down the road, still carrying the axe. They demanded he drop it, but the man refused and made further threats to the officers, police say.

A stun gun was used on the man and police arrested him, RCMP said.

The 35-year-old man from Cross Lake was charged with three counts of assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, and one count each of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, police say.

They are also investigating whether the man was also impaired while driving his vehicle.