It took a spike belt, police dog and team of officers to box him in, but the RCMP got their man on Wednesday afternoon.
One of the city's prolific offenders, 29-year-old Paul Daniel Shaw, is facing a laundry list of charges after attempting to flee police in a stolen 2006 Ford F-350 pickup truck, according to a statement issued by the RCMP.
An officer spotted Shaw driving the truck on River Road Wednesday afternoon. Because of his extensive history of vehicle thefts, ramming police vehicles and fleeing police, officers deployed a spike belt on River Road near the Cameron Street Bridge to intercept him.
Shaw drove the truck over the spike belt and continued for almost two kilometres, before ramming a police vehicle on North Nechako Road. Officers were then able to box the truck in and bring it to a halt.
Despite warnings from officers, Shaw then attempted to flee out the passenger side of the truck. However he was quickly apprehended by the police service dog Azar. Shaw suffered minor bite wounds to his arm, and was taken to hospital for treatment.
Police located significant quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine in his possession. Shaw is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday and is facing charges of assaulting a peace officer, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, three counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, failing to stop for police, obstructing a peace officer and driving while prohibited.
Police determined the truck had been stolen from a home on Graves Road on Sept. 30. At the time of the theft, several rock core samples were in the back of the truck. The samples were not in the truck when police recovered it.
Anyone with information about this case, or who knows where the core samples might be, is asked to call Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477). Tips can also be made online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca or texted to CRIMES(274637) using the keyword pgtips.
Previously, Shaw was sentenced to 11 months in jail after a December, 2011 incident. In that case an officer responded to a call about a man sleeping in a running vehicle.
The officer woke Shaw to see if he was alright, who then put the vehicle in gear and rammed five vehicles and two police cars before escaping. He was arrested later that day.
