Holyrood RCMP received a report around 8:00 a.m. this morning of a stolen vehicle from Avondale. The 21-year-old male driver from Avondale was observed driving at excessive speeds in the community and side-swiped a vehicle.
After failing to pay for fuel at a gas station in the area, the man drove into the city of St. John's at dangerous speeds.
The vehicle had two male occupants. The driver attempted to ram three separate marked RNC patrol cars and had a number of near miss collisions with other vehicles in various parts of the city and two confirmed collisions.
The male passenger was located by the RNC on the scene of the collision and his involvement remains under investigation.
After considerable damage to the stolen vehicle, the driver fled on foot to a residential area near Thorburn Road, where he used a weapon and hijacked a vehicle that was occupied by a woman and two children. The woman and children exited the vehicle without injury and the man drove away heading back onto the TCH.
RCMP from Bay Roberts, Holyrood, Traffic Services, Police Dog Services and Emergency Response Team were deployed and the driver attempted to ram a marked RCMP police vehicle.
A spike belt was successfully deployed. The driver got out on foot and fled into a residence in town of Colliers, where he was taken into custody with the assistance of Police Service Dog Axel.
RNC advise that they have received several reports of possible damage to vehicles today that may or may not be related and remain under investigation.
The man is facing a large number of charges, including theft of a motor vehicle, robbery, assault with a weapon X 3, dangerous operation of motor vehicle, flight from police, multiple breaches of court orders and a number of highway traffic act offences. He remains in custody and will attend provincial court in the morning.
If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact Holyrood RCMP at 709-229-3892. To remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (TIPS is 8477), by Secure Web Tips at www.nlcrimestoppers.com, or by downloading our free and secure mobile app. Search your App Store for "P3 Tips". Electronic tips submitted to Crime Stoppers are encrypted, entirely confidential and completely anonymous.