Cars are taped off after a truck driver hit five police cars outside police headquarters in Winnipeg on Monday, July 20, 2015. Police say a moving truck rammed into five cruisers parked right outside police headquarters Monday morning.Steve Lambert/The Canadian Press
One man is in custody after five Winnipeg police vehicles were rammed by a moving truck which then led police on a lengthy chase along the Trans-Canada Highway.
The mayhem began when a truck rammed marked and unmarked police cars that were parked outside the downtown police headquarters.
Witness Tim Jaskow says a large moving truck pulled alongside the row of cars and backed up into them three times as other traffic stopped.
The vehicles had dents and broken mirrors.
The truck sped off and was later followed by police westward along the Trans-Canada Highway beyond Portage La Prairie.
RCMP used a spike belt to stop the truck and one man was arrested.
Sgt. Nick Paulet said he had never seen anything like it at the police building.
"It's very brazen, especially during the day," he said Monday.
Jaskow said he was standing on the street nearby when he heard a loud crunch and looked up to see the truck deliberately backing into the cars.
"He hit the silver (car) ... then he pulled up again, then he backed up again and went behind it to the next ones, then he pulled up further yet and then he just floored it across, like at an angle into the ones behind," Jaskow said.
"The first time I saw it I thought he was making a delivery and made a mistake. Then after that, I thought he was nuts."
Winnipeg police and RCMP pursued the truck some 75 kilometres before the truck was stopped.
Police were still gathering details but said the arrest was made without incident and there were no injuries.