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Red Deer police officer is injured after RCMP cruiser is rammed

Suspect fled after slamming into police cruiser
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A Red Deer RCMP officer was injured Monday after a suspect rammed into his police cruiser with a stolen truck.

The officer suffered minor injuries and was treated in hospital. Red Deer RCMP are now searching for the driver who fled after police officers tried to thwart a truck theft in Highland Green.

RCMP were on patrol in an alley in the neighbourhood at 1 a.m. on July 17 when they intercepted a white pickup truck in the process of being stolen.

The suspect in the truck fled police by driving on a walking path adjacent to 59 Avenue into Riverside Meadows.

RCMP located the stolen vehicle again on Kerrywood Drive, near the Taylor Drive intersection. The truck appeared to be stuck on the median.

But when an RCMP officer approached in a marked police cruiser, the truck reversed at high speed, colliding with the police car, then fleeing northbound on Taylor Drive.

The police cruiser suffered severe damage to the front end, and the police officer was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The driver of the truck is described as a “skinny Caucasian male, early to mid-30s, with some facial hair, wearing a black hat and a black hoodie.”

RCMP later recovered the stolen truck, abandoned in a parking lot in north Red Deer shortly before 8:30 a.m.

“The driver of this truck showed blatant disregard for life – both for the safety of the public as he crashed through a park area and drove erratically at high speeds on city streets, and for the life of the police officer he intentionally collided with,” says Staff Sgt. Jeff McBeth of the Red Deer RCMP.

“We’re lucky, today, that our member wasn’t seriously injured.”

This is the second time in four days that a Red Deer police car was damaged by a thief in a stolen vehicle, who was attempting to evade arrest.

On July 13, a woman driving a stolen van collided with the side of a police car while fleeing police. In that case, the police car sustained minor damage and the police officer was not injured. The silver Ford Freestar van, with an Alberta license plate BWW3351, has not been recovered yet.

Anyone with information about either investigation is urged to contact the Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or report it online at www.tipsubmit.com. If information leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward up to $2,000.

lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com