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This article was published 22/06/2022 (344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A stolen vehicle led police on a chase Tuesday in eastern Manitoba.

RCMP in Beausejour were called about suspicious person driving in the town northeast of Winnipeg at around 2:20 p.m. A licence plate check came back as a SUV reported stolen in the provincial capital.

An officer located the suspect vehicle in a parking lot on Selch Street. When the officer turned on the cruiser’s lights, the SUV reversed, struck the police vehicle and fled, RCMP said Wednesday.

The officer wasn’t hurt.

RCMP alerted counterparts in Lac Du Bonnet the suspect was headed toward their town. The detachment set up a roadblock on Highway 15 in the Rural Municipality of Whitemouth.

The SUV stopped at the roadblock, where officers tried to get the driver to take the keys out of the ignition and get out of the vehicle. Instead, RCMP said, he refused and drove off — crossing a police spike belt meant to puncture tires.

Officers tracked the vehicle to where it was abandoned in nearby Elma along a riverbank.

RCMP dog handlers tracked a male suspect to a shed on a rural property.

The suspect appeared to be suffering from an opioid overdose; police gave him naloxone and other first aid until paramedics arrived.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated and released.

A 26-year-old man from the RM of St. Clements is facing multiple charges, including possessing property obtained by crime, failing to stop after an accident, dangerous operation of a vehicle, failing or refusing to comply with a demand, operating a vehicle while impaired and failing to comply with a release order.

He will also be charged with several Highway Traffic Act offences, police said.