A pair of Prince George RCMP cruisers were rammed and a police service pistol was fired during an unsuccessful bid by two people suspected of committing a break and enter to evade local Mounties on Wednesday morning.
The incident left commuters travelling the Hart Highway with the sight of one of the cruisers, its front end crumpled in, parked near Lehman Street and cordoned off by police tape.
In an update issued Wednesday afternoon, RCMP said the event began in the Bowl just after 4 a.m. when police were called to a break and enter at a 700-block Fourth Avenue business.
They arrived to find a burgundy-coloured Dodge pick-up truck pulling a flat-deck trailer leaving the area. An effort to stop the vehicle was called off when it took off at a high speed.
Shortly after, RCMP were notified that it had been stolen from a 1700-block Queensway business.
At about 5 a.m., the pickup was spotted once more, this time without the trailer and heading south on Old Summit Lake Road, then onto Northwood Pulpmill Road where RCMP had laid out a spike belt.
The pickup was briefly disabled, police said, but not enough to stop it. Instead, an RCMP vehicle was rammed and one of the officers fired their pistol during the encounter.
The pickup continued north on Old Summit Lake Road at a high speed, then turned south onto the Hart Highway where it collided with a second police vehicle near Lehman Street and then ran over a second spike belt.
With commuter traffic increasing and the suspect vehicle being driven into oncoming traffic, RCMP called off the pursuit.
But the suspects' luck ran out when RCMP found the truck a short time later abandoned in an alleyway near Fifth Avenue and Burden Street.
With the assistance of a police dog and handler, the two were found and arrested.
The right southbound lane of Highway 97 between Monterey and Austin roads was closed off with traffic control in place for several hours following the incident.
Names of the suspects have not yet been released but are both well known to police, RCMP said.
"Thankfully, two of the involved officers only sustained minor injuries as a result of this dynamic situation," Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said. "Investigators are working diligently on this investigation, which is still in its infancy."
Anyone with dash cam footage or video surveillance capturing the suspect vehicle’s movements from the areas of the break-and-enters is asked to call the Prince George RCMP's non-emergency line at 250-561-3300.
