A 28-year-old Watrous man, on Friday, Aug. 23, had police on a wild, three-hour chase down highways, prairie trails and across farm fields.
It all ended in Last Mountain Lake, at Etters Beach, where the Mounties finally caught their man by fishing him out of the lake.
The Friday night chase began at about 5:30 when Const. Brendan Fonteyne of the Watrous RCMP detachment responded to a complaint of a suspicious vehicle parked in an alley in Watrous.
That suspicious vehicle turned out to be the truck that was reported stolen from Fast Toys for Boys trailer dealership in Davidson.
Terry Dieno, owner of Fast Toys for Boys, said they noticed the truck, which is a dualee pick up truck they use to tow RVs from Indiana to Davidson, missing the morning of Thursday, Aug. 22.
The thief drove through the fence surrounding the dealership, demolishing about 100 feet of it, to make his escape.
Dieno reported the stolen truck to Craik RCMP.
The next day, Dieno was notified that police had spotted his truck in Watrous.
However, Dieno’s truck didn’t stay in Watrous long.
Fonteyne said when he went to check out the truck, the driver took off, driving south out of Watrous on Highway 668. Fonteyne tried to pull over the vehicle but the driver fled across a grain field south of Watrous where a farmer was swathing. Fonteyne said the suspect then traded trucks, taking the farmer’s truck, a 2013 GMC Sierra, and took off again.
By now, four RCMP cruisers were involved in the chase, with Watrous and Craik RCMP detachments each supplying two vehicles.
Fonteyne said the officers lost sight of the suspect vehicle while he was fleeing across a field, heading back to Davidson.
The thief didn’t stay lost for long.
Dieno said when police notified him that they’d spotted his truck he was about to go flying in his plane, so he offered to look for his truck.
Dieno said he usually flies eastward out of town, but police advised him to go south towards Craik.
While he was still heading east, Dieno said he saw headlights coming down a prairie trail.
He took a look at the truck, but it wasn’t his, so he was about to head south, when he got an update that the suspect had abandoned Dieno’s truck and stole a different one.
Dieno said he asked police for a description of the vehicle and realized he had flown right over top of the thief.
To read more please see the Sept. 2 print edition of The Davidson Leader.