A Yellowknife man is in custody after going on a drinking and driving rampage where he struck both a security officer and rammed an RCMP car.
Yellowknife RCMP report they were called to a scene at 3:07 a.m. after a security guard was struck by the driver while attempting to stop him from driving away from a downtown location on Franklin Avenue. A second call from a complainant said the man was driving at a high rate of speed in the opposing lane.
RCMP located the vehicle and turned on their lights to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle accelerated instead. A second police vehicle arrived to assist and the man collided the car, hard enough that airbags were deployed and the vehicle was seriously damaged.
The 20-year-old man was arrested. He has not been identified, but is facing charges of impaired operation causing bodily harm, impaired operation over the legal limit causing bodily harm, assault on a police officer with a weapon, assault with a weapon, flight from police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and mischief over $5000.
“The 20-year-old-man was cleared medically on scene by EMS and was not injured in the collision,” said NT RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Matt Halstead. “Both the security guard and the police officer whose vehicle was hit, were transported to the Stanton Territorial Hospital and treated for injuries. Both were released after treatment. The investigation into this incident is on-going.”
A Yellowknife man is in custody after driving impaired at high speeds in the wrong lane and striking both a security guard and police car with the vehicle. Kaicheng Xin/NNSL photo