A central Alberta Mountie fired a gun Friday during a physical confrontation with three men who then stole the officer’s cruiser.
The officer was responding to a report of single vehicle crash at about 5:30 a.m. on Highway 596 at Range Road 10, near Blackfalds, north of Red Deer.
The officer came across a second vehicle, also in the ditch, with the three men nearby, RCMP said in a news release Friday.
The officer stopped to see if the men needed help, but while speaking with them “a physical confrontation ensued,” the news release said.
The officer fired a service gun before the men stole the officer’s cruiser and drove off in it. The officer suffered minor injuries.
The RCMP vehicle was later found abandoned in a field near Highway 11. Officers from Sylvan Lake and Red Deer, RCMP Air Services, Emergency Response Team and Police Dog Services tracked the men, who had fled on foot.
One was found to have suffered a non-life threatening injury as a result of the confrontation and was taken to hospital, the release said.
The Director of Law Enforcement has been notified and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting and the actions of police.
The RCMP will continue to investigate the actions of the men and the events leading up to the confrontation.