Police open fire on stolen truck that later hit house, caused explosion
2 arrested but no injuries reported after truck hit house, starting fire that ignited large fuel tank
Winnipeg police officers opened fire on a stolen pickup truck they say was driven toward them as the driver tried to flee, before the truck crashed into a house and caused an explosion Friday night.
Around 6 p.m., officers saw a Ford F250, which had been reported stolen, headed northbound on Home Street, between Portage and St. Matthews avenues in the city's West End.
Police blocked off the single lane of traffic with their cruiser in an attempt to stop the truck, but the driver then reversed and hit another vehicle, according to a Saturday news release from the Winnipeg Police Service.
The truck was then driven toward the police cruiser and the officers, who were at that point standing outside their vehicle. They fired shots at the truck, the police news release said.
A video circulating on social media shows a truck attempting to evade police by swerving around a cruiser blocking traffic on a residential street as officers fired multiple shots at the vehicle.
WATCH | Police fire at truck as it swerves around them:
Police say the truck's driver then drove it onto a boulevard and continued down Home Street toward St. Matthews, where the truck hit a second police vehicle and the driver lost control.
The truck hit a house on Home Street, between St. Matthews and Ellice avenues. The collision started a fire that spread to a large fuel tank located in the back of the pickup truck, which exploded and set both the truck and the house on fire, police said.
Police say two people — a 48-year-old man who was driving the truck and a 29-year-old woman who was a passenger — fled on foot and were arrested nearby.
No injuries were reported in the incident, police said.
A stretch of Home Street from Portage to St. Matthews remained blocked off as of mid-morning Saturday.
Ashely Pott, a resident on Home Street, said her nine-year-old son was playing outside Friday evening, and ran into a neighbour's house when the shots were fired.
She said her son was shaken up after the incident, and she's thankful her neighbour immediately welcomed the boys inside their home and no one was injured.
"I gave her a hug and said, 'thank you so much,' and I almost started crying, because that's my baby, you know?"
Pott said it was shocking to see the video circulating on social media, showing children running into a home as police fired their guns.
"It's crazy," she said. "You never expect something like that is going to happen in your neighbourhood."
Jan Basanes, another Home Street resident, said his family initially thought the gunshots were sounds from roofers working on a building nearby, but then he heard sirens and commotion outside.
He's relieved to know that nobody was injured in the incident, especially because there are a lot of young children in the area.
"We did check in with the neighbours, and we were very happy to know that everyone was safe," Basanes said.
Wendell Monkman, who also lives in the area, said he thinks police should have used a different approach to stop the truck when kids were outside playing.
"It's dangerous when you pull your gun out and start shooting," he said.
"What happens when you hit a kid?"
Officers trained to focus on stopping driver: expert
Kash Heed, a former chief of the West Vancouver Police Department and an expert on the use of force, said officers are trained to take into account what they might hit if they fire their guns but miss their target.
"The circumstances surrounding what could have happened is unbelievable," said Heed, who reviewed the social media video, adding the outcome could have been fatal.
When police are trying to stop a stolen vehicle, shooting at it to immobilize it — by firing at the tires, for example — is no longer the practice, Heed said. Officers are trained to focus on neutralizing the driver.
"If the officer believes his life or someone else's life is in jeopardy as a result of the driver's manoeuvring, certainly lethal force can be utilized," Heed said.
He said he watched the video from Friday's shooting 'many times' and was surprised by the number of shots.
"Certainly the officers ... [were] surmising or fearing for their life," Heed said, adding the video also shows one of them is protected by the vehicle, while the other officer had the chance of getting away from the vehicle if needed.
"It's going to be what's in the mind of the officers what their feelings were at the times for them to justify using that level of force," he continued.
He also said while there's long been debate, each jurisdiction has different directives on whether or not to pursue stolen vehicles, since the chase might present the greater danger.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province, was notified of Friday's incident, according to the police news release.
Heed said the investigation will look into the reasons why police employed the strategies they did and whether or not there is justification for the "high level" of lethal force used.
In a separate news release sent Friday night, the City of Winnipeg said fire-paramedics were called at 6 p.m. to put out the fire at the one-and-a-half storey house on Home Street.
Firefighters saw heavy smoke and flames coming from the house when they arrived, and attacked the fire from outside before moving into the home, the release said.
The fire was under control by 7:15 p.m. No people were found inside the house, but a cat was found dead in the home.
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With files from Gavin Axelrod