Saskatoon police airplane captures high-speed getaway on camera

The Saskatoon Police Service air support unit released dramatic video of a dangerous high-speed pursuit on Monday, and they say it's not an isolated incident.

The video was recorded from the police airplane on Sunday night just before 7:00 p.m., showing a driver of a stolen truck trying to evade police through the north end of the city, at some points driving over 100 kilometres an hour.

Police say they initially saw the truck speeding at Rusholme Road and Avenue P, driving in a dangerous manner, sometimes into oncoming traffic, and even driving through a field. That's when they called in the air support.

The aerial video shows the vehicle coming to a stop after turning onto a side street and the driver can be seen running away. The airplane tracked the vehicle and guided the canine unit to the suspect on the ground.

A post on the air support unit’s X account said the driver of the stolen truck had a sawed-off shotgun.

This is the latest in a string of dangerous driving incidents captured by the air support unit.

“We sure have seen some dangerous and aggressive driving the last few days,” the post said.

According to SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy, the behaviours described by police in this case go beyond simply traffic safety act violations.

"It's definitely disturbing. You don't want to see vehicles operating on public roads for sure," McMurchy told CTV News.

"It's looking like more into the criminal code territory, like trying to evade police and dangerous driving."

Those are two of the charges the 31-year-old driver faces. Other charges include mischief over $5,000, breach of conditions and possession of stolen property.

McMurchy says in many incidents like this, the vehicle is stolen. Often, the vehicles are used in other crimes that could involve drugs or weapons.

"Taking the steps you can as a vehicle owner from having it stolen, because if it is, it's going to be driven often times recklessly and many times in the commission of other crimes."

Many people are tempted to leave vehicles running, sometimes unlocked, as the weather gets cooler, but that makes for an easy target, McMurchy says.