Calgary man faces 25 charges after allegedly dragging firefighter with stolen vehicle: police
A Calgary man faces 25 charges after several alleged incidents that happened on Saturday, including one where he is accused of dragging a firefighter with a stolen car while trying to drive away from a crash, police said in an update on Sunday.
On Saturday, police were called to a single-vehicle crash in the 100 block of Bermuda Drive N.W. in the neighbourhood of Beddington Heights around 12:30 p.m, they said in a release.
According to police, while helping at the scene of the collision, a firefighter was dragged by the car as the driver attempted to flee.
A police helicopter was sent to watch the car from a safe distance "due to the high-risk nature of the suspect's driving," police said.
The man was safely taken into custody. The firefighter had minor injuries and was taken to hospital.
"In incidents like these, our priority is always to ensure public safety first," says Duty Insp. Jeff Pennoyer of the CPS Real Time Operations Centre.
"The driver demonstrated little regard for the safety of both the public and our fellow first responders, and as such, we dedicated resources from across the Service to safely resolve this incident."
Earlier in the day, police said the suspect was also involved in another incident where he allegedly rammed the vehicle of a peace officer at a traffic stop outside of Calgary. The officer had minor injuries.
The suspect has been accused of damaging an Esso gas station in Strathmore, Alta., and a railway crossing barrier while trying to flee the scene.
Police said he also tried to ram several other police vehicles.
The charges the suspect now faces include three counts each of assaulting a police officer with a weapon and assault with a weapon, two counts of mischief to property under $5,000 and one count each of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving, flight from peace officer, cruelty to animals, possession of identity documents, resisting arrest and possession of stolen property over $5,000. He was also charged with 10 counts of breaching a release order.
