A Summerside Police officer was not injured Tuesday after being struck by a car fleeing from the parking lot of a city strip mall.
At about 7:45 p.m. police got a call reporting a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot at the Vogue Optical Plaza on Granville Street.
Two officers responded. When they exited the police vehicle to approach the suspect vehicle on foot, the driver of the suspect vehicle tried to flee.
The suspect vehicle drove toward one of the officers. The officer was able to partially move out of the way but was briefly pinned between the car and another vehicle in the adjacent parking space. The suspect vehicle struck that vehicle and the police cruiser while fleeing. It was last seen travelling north on Granville Street.
Cpl. Jason Blacquiere said if the officer had been paying less attention to what was happening, he could have been hit full-on and seriously injured.
“He was lucky… It certainly could have been much worse,” said Blacquiere.
A vehicle believed to be the one in question was recovered by RCMP Wednesday from a ditch in the Vernon Bridge area. It’s believe it went off the road between 10:30 p.m. and midnight Tuesday.
The vehicle is a Pontiac G5 with silver or gray fenders and a black hood, trunk and doors.
Police suspect the same vehicle has been involved in a number of incidents in Prince County over the past several days.
“Since last week, between the Summerside Police and the RCMP, we’ve tried to stop a vehicle of the same description several times and the vehicle has fled each time,” said Blacquiere.
“They were the same make and model, only the vehicle was a different colour each time. We believe the vehicle was being spray-painted, basically from day to day, and that whoever has the vehicle has been putting different licence plates on it.”
Police are asking anyone with information regarding these incidents, the owner or driver of the vehicle, or any of its occupants to call Summerside Police Services at 902-432-1201 or contact Crime Stoppers.
