Alleged car thieves hit Kelowna police cruisers to escape

Kelowna Mounties managed to get the better of a pair of alleged car thieves who tried to evade capture today by ramming into police cruisers and other motorists.

In a press release sent out this afternoon, July 19, Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy said RCMP arrested a man and a woman who were connected to a black Chevy pickup truck stolen in Alberta.

"An officer had located the stolen vehicle last week but the driver had fled when the member attempted to conduct a traffic stop. In the interest of maintaining public safety, police did not pursue the vehicle at that time," she said in the release.

This morning, at around 10:30 a.m. they caught sight of it again and officers in unmarked vehicles and the RCMP Air Services helicopter "covertly followed it."

“The police helicopter was able to maintain public safety and provide updates as to the location of the vehicle,” Noseworthy said.

“Officers took their time and waited to intercept the driver when it would be safest to do so.”

Just before 2:30 p.m., police again tried to stop the stolen vehicle near the intersection of KLO Road and Benvoulin Road in Kelowna.

When officers approached, the driver of the suspect vehicle struck several police and civilian vehicles in an attempt to escape, but was unsuccessful. The male driver and female passenger of the stolen vehicle were taken into custody.

“Our officers did a great job in attempting to mitigate the risk in this incident,” Noseworthy said.

“Though there was some damage to vehicles, no one was injured and two suspects are in custody.”

This matter is still under investigation, and no further information will be released at this time.

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