Winnipeg man arrested after high-speed chase was under driving ban following fatal 2009 crash
Mark Douglas Rodgers, 31, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death
A man who is in custody following a high-speed chase that started in Winnipeg and ended near Portage la Prairie in the early hours of Monday was under a driving ban stemming from a fatal car crash in 2009.
Mark Douglas Rodgers, 31, was arrested early Monday following a pursuit, some of which was caught on video, that involved a police vehicle being rammed and didn't end until the driver lost control of his heavily damaged vehicle outside Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg police say.
Multiple people posted videos to social media showing a truck that appeared to be missing a tire shooting sparks off the road as it was pursued by numerous Winnipeg police officers around midnight on Monday.
The chase began at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday, when officers saw a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 that had been reported stolen being driven by a man in Winnipeg's North End, police say.
Police later determined that the vehicle had been stolen from a home on Roseberry Street earlier in the afternoon, according to a Tuesday news release from the Winnipeg Police Service.
WATCH | Video taken of high-speed police pursuit in Winnipeg:
Officers began following it with the help of a tactical support team and a canine unit.
The driver fled from police and they lost track of the vehicle, until tactical unit officers spotted it driving southbound on McPhillips Street, just north of Logan Avenue.
As the driver eventually reached Fort Street and Broadway, he rammed a tactical unit's vehicle, leaving it undrivable, before heading westbound on Portage Avenue and out of the city, according to police.
The officers in the vehicle were taken to hospital and assessed for minor injuries.
RCMP took over the pursuit once the vehicle was outside city limits, with Winnipeg officers assisting.
The driver of the stolen vehicle, which was heavily damaged at this point, continued westbound until he lost control and hit the ditch on the west side of Portage la Prairie, about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg, the news release says.
He was taken to hospital in stable condition with upper-body injuries, and was then taken into custody at about 1 a.m. Monday.
Police say Rodgers gave a fake name to officers when he was arrested.
Driving ban
Rodgers, who is from Winnipeg, is now facing multiple charges, including dangerous driving, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, identity fraud, two counts of assaulting a police officer with a weapon, two counts of failure to comply with a probation order and four counts of failure to comply with the condition of a release order.
He is currently under a 15-year driving ban stemming from a fatal crash in 2009, CBC News has confirmed.
When he was 19 years old, Rodgers was behind the wheel of a Hummer H2 that ran a stop sign at Alfred Avenue and Andrews Street in Winnipeg and slammed into a much smaller Subaru driven by Zdzislaw Andrzejczak, 47.
He was driving at a speed of about 94 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, police said at the time.
Andrzejczak died at the scene of the crash.
Rodgers, who fled the scene, was later arrested. He pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in December 2010 and was sentenced in 2011 to seven years behind bars, less time served.
At the time, he was also given a 15-year driving ban, to start following his release from prison.
He remained in custody on the latest charges as of Tuesday afternoon, police said.
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With files from Sarah Petz