RCMP in Yellowknife say an impaired 20-year-old driver hit a police car at speed, injuring an officer, having earlier struck a security guard.
The man’s vehicle hit the guard as he drove away from Franklin Avenue shortly after 3am on Saturday, police said in a news release.
RCMP said the vehicle, which been reported to officers for “driving at a high rate of speed in the wrong lane of traffic in the downtown area,” then struck a responding RCMP vehicle.
It’s not clear if the suspect vehicle was still in the wrong lane at the time of the collision. An image of the scene submitted by a resident – who described being woken by the sound – appears to show the police vehicle on the wrong side of the road.
The driver of the suspect vehicle was not injured, police said, and both the security guard and injured officer have been released from Stanton Territorial Hospital after treatment.
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The driver 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 $5,000,” RCMP stated.
Police allege the vehicle “accelerated and collided head-on” with the RCMP vehicle even though police said the officer was making no attempt, at the time, to block the road.
“The impact was significant enough that the police vehicle’s airbags deployed and the vehicle was seriously damaged,” RCMP stated.
“The collision is being investigated as an intentional act.”
The 20-year-old’s name was not given in Saturday’s news release.
RCMP said an investigation continues.
