According to Dauphin RCMP, a short chase in pursuit of a stolen taxi cab ended in the one place you absolutely do not want to drive a stolen vehicle: the parking lot of the local RCMP detachment.
A 32-year-old man from Skowman First Nation has been charged with theft of a vehicle, flight from peace officer, and two counts of mischief over $5,000 after an incident on April 4 at about 5:00 in the morning. Police said they were called to a report of a stolen taxi cab after a man allegedly refused to pay his fare. The cab driver got out of the cab and asked the suspect to exit the vehicle. Instead, police said the suspect jumped into the cab’s front seat and drove away.
Dauphin RCMP said in a release that their patrolling officers found the taxi at 5:30 that same morning, but the driver refused to pull over and sped away. Ten minutes later,
officers saw the taxi stopped in the Dauphin RCMP detachment’s parking lot. As officers approached, the cab sped away again, only to return a short time later. The taxi was then boxed in by officers and the suspect was safely taken into custody.
During the incident, the cab collided with the detachment’s wheelchair ramp, causing significant damage to both the ramp and vehicle.
