After an afternoon of sleepy cat and mouse, Prince George RCMP arrested a prolific offender with a history of vehicle thefts and dangerous police pursuits.
Shortly after noon on Saturday, police responded to a parked car with what appeared to be an unresponsive male inside. Officers attempted to speak with the driver, but he took off in the vehicle.
A similar call from a citizen at another location yielded the same results. Again, officers attempted to speak to the man, but he took off.
Around 1:30 p.m., a third complaint came in involving the same vehicle with a man asleep at the wheel in the 900 block of Ahbau Street. Several police officers attended and boxed in the vehicle before attempting to wake up the driver.
When he was roused, police attempted an arrest, but the driver put the vehicle into reverse and collided with a police car. As the officer struggled to remove the driver, he switched gears and tried to get away by going forwards - colliding with another police car.
The cop car was pushed out of the way and the driver took off for a third time - but not before hitting five parked cars in the apartment's parking lot.
Since the driver was identified to be known to police, he was not pursued due to public safety concerns.
"The property charges aren't worth forcing him into running into a family of four," said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Craig Douglass. "We [identified] him and the person will have a warrant issued."
The vehicle he was driving was reported stolen by the owner later that afternoon.
Just before midnight, a 27-year-old Prince George man was arrested as a passenger in another vehicle. He appeared Sunday before a justice of the peace charged with related offences.
Anyone with information about this, or any other, criminal offence is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or to anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
