Fleeing driver nearly hits officers, crashes into house

Robert Fournier was startled awake early Wednesday morning and thought his roof was caving in.

The St. Boniface resident was sleeping in his home on Dollard Boulevard at about 2 a.m. when a loud noise got him out of bed. He peeked outside his room and saw a car had crashed into the front of the house.

“It was so loud, it was ridiculous, and then you get your head together,” Fournier said Wednesday morning. “It took me a few minutes to, you know, fathom everything.”

He called 911 and police quickly responded to his home.

A man is facing multiple charges in relation to the crash. Police say officers were patrolling in the neighbourhood at about that time when they spotted a white Honda Pilot missing its front licence plate.

The vehicle pulled into a parking lot in the 300 block of Provencher Blvd., and let out a female passenger. Officers drove up to the vehicle and got out of their cruiser, attempting to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver sped away, nearly hitting the two officers, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release.

Shortly after, police received a report from Fournier that the vehicle had smashed into his home.

Fournier’s son was home during the incident and woke up at the same time. Items were knocked off one of the shelves in his room from the impact, but damage to the inside of the home was limited.

Fournier’s next-door neighbour Cory Flett was also awakened by the crash, thinking his cats had knocked his TV over. He went into his living room, saw everything was in order and went back to bed.

He woke up to the sound of drills and saws Wednesday morning. When he looked outside he saw workers boarding up the front of Fournier’s home.

“I (saw the car) tracks, and I tried to put it all together, like, ‘Oh, somebody slid through the intersection,’” Flett said.

The suspect ran away after the crash, WPS spokesperson Const. Pat Saydak said. Police arrested him about an hour later at St. Boniface Hospital, where he was being treated for injuries consistent with being in a motor vehicle collision.

A 41-year-old man has been charged with assaulting a peace officer, dangerous operation of a vehicle, mischief, possession of property obtained by crime and failing to comply with a release order. He was detained in custody and is known to police, Saydak said.

Neither Fournier nor his son were injured in the incident. By mid-morning his front window had been boarded up but his front fence was still crumpled in the snow where the vehicle plowed through it.

Fournier said drivers have slid through the intersection at Dollard and Langevin Street in the past. He recalled one incident when a car slid into a lamp post outside his home.

“We’re in direct line to idiots that are driving,” he said.

— With files from Mike Deal

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca