Driver suffers hypothermia inside crashed car

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A driver who crashed a car after fleeing police Monday evening suffered hypothermia while emergency crews worked to remove him from the mangled vehicle.

A car sped past a Winnipeg Police Service cruiser that was in a Henderson Highway parking lot near the intersection of Johnson Avenue at 11:28 p.m., the WPS told the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

Officers activated the marked cruiser’s emergency lights and siren and tried to stop the car, but it continued speeding away, police said in a news release Tuesday.

“Officers followed from a distance but soon lost sight of the vehicle,” police said.

The police helicopter spotted the car after it rear-ended another vehicle and hit a light standard at the northwest corner of Chief Peguis Trail and Henderson.

A passenger in the car fled on foot but was apprehended after a brief pursuit, police said. The driver was trapped in the damaged car and had to be removed by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

Both the driver and passenger were taken to hospital.

“The driver of the vehicle sustained a fracture to his leg and suffered hypothermia due to the time (needed) to extract him from the vehicle,” the IIU said in a news release.

The province’s police watchdog is investigating because of the broken leg. The IIU asked witnesses or anyone with video that might help investigators to call 1-844-667-6060.

The intersection did not fully reopen to traffic until late Tuesday morning. The City of Winnipeg posted on X at 10:05 a.m. that the intersection had reopened to traffic in all directions, although some emergency vehicles remained in Henderson’s southbound curb lane. Buses were rerouted during the closures.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca