EDMONTON -- A man has been charged with “assaulting a police officer with a weapon” after a stolen pickup smashed into a stopped police cruiser and at least five other vehicles in north Edmonton Saturday night.
The wild chain of events was captured on surveillance video and obtained by CTV News Edmonton.
It happened just before midnight Saturday near the corner of 127 Avenue and 103 Street.
The video shows a silver pickup strike the side of a stopped Edmonton Police Service cruiser with two officers inside, before hitting several other vehicles parked on the street.
"It appeared the vehicle was in control when it collided with a police vehicle, and that’s the reasoning why we pursued charges of assault of a police officer with a weapon," Acting Staff Sgt. Kurtis Hauptman said.
"It’s terrible. It was an awful night," Annette Snoddon said Sunday while looking at her smashed Buick Encore, one of the vehicles damaged at the scene.
"We heard a big thud. I turned on my camera outside and I could see the cops taking down some guy in the puddle over there. I came upstairs and my vehicle was pushed down the road, all smashed up," Snoddon recalled.
Snoddon’s Buick was shoved several feet backwards into her neighbours vehicle, which rolled into another car behind it.
The suspect pickup then careened east and hit two other vehicles parked across the street.
The video shows the passenger in the stolen pickup surrender immediately. He can be seen putting his hands up and laying on the ground before EPS arrested him.
The driver of the vehicle ran east through an alley. Police said they arrested him about a block away.
EPS said they first started pursuing the suspects because they were trying to break in to a north side autobody shop. Police alleged the pickup was stolen.
"It was a crazy event. It happened very quickly," Cassandra Ayres said.
Ayres ran to see what was happening outside of her front window. When she looked out, her mom’s car was no longer in it’s parking spot.
"I looked down the street and it’s halfway down the block, and then I see cops and obviously I recognize that (Snoddon’s) car is crunched and there’s a person on the ground over there," Ayres recalled.
Police did not name the men Sunday night, but said both were in their 30s.
The driver is now facing a long list of charges including assaulting a police officer with a weapon, break and enter to commit theft, dangerous driving, criminal flight and obstruction of justice. The passenger is also facing charges.
Snoddon and her neighbours said they’re now left to deal with tow trucks, insurance companies and deductibles.
"I’m kind of irritated about that. I hope they get what’s coming to them," Snoddon said of the suspects, not sure yet what the damage would cost her.
EPS said no one was injured in the incident.
The surveillance video was provided to CTV News Edmonton by staff at the Root of Beirut restaurant.
