Man nearly runs over woman while driving 100 km/h down sidewalk during police chase

Police say they had hundreds of backed-up calls while dealing with two serious meth-related incidents over the weekend, including a high-speed chase in downtown Winnipeg where a woman narrowly missed being run over by a man speeding down the sidewalk.

The first occurred Friday morning at approximately 10:15 a.m., when the driver of a stolen vehicle hopped on the sidewalk and drove 100 km/h southbound down Furby Street while trying to evade police.

The male driver struck six fences and narrowly missed hitting a 25-year-old female who was entering her yard.

The woman literally had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck, said Const. Tammy Skrabek.

"She literally heard a loud noise, turned her head, and saw the car coming at her," she said.

The driver then collided with a business at the corner of Ellice Avenue and Furby Street, nearly flipping on its side, police say.

He then sped off, and collided into an apartment building close to the same intersection.

The driver had approximately 45 grams of methamphetamine on him when arrested. He is facing several drug charges and is being detained at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

A pregnant female was also in the vehicle at the time. She was taken to hospital in stable condition and is also facing a number of drug charges.

Woman resisted tear gas for hours

On the same date, police attempted to execute a search warrant at a residence on Boyd Avenue.

Police used "several distraction" devices to force people to exit the residence, successfully removing six people,Skrabeksaid.

Officers then deployedtear gas,into the residence in an attempt to draw the remaining occupants out.

Though one male exited the building as a result, a female remained in the home for several hoursand had to be removed from the building by officers, Skrabek said.

Skrabeksaid she shouldn't have been able to stay in there with the tear gas.

"A normal person couldn't withstand that, so the only logical explanation to us is it's result of her using meth and resistance to that gas," she said.

"I think this is the first time where we've been met with this type of resistance."

Police were able to search the residence Saturday morning after the gas had dissipated.

The male driver arrested Friday was connected to the residence that was raided,Skrabeksaid.

Because both incidents required several officers from various units to deal with, non-priority calls were back up for about 24 hours, Skrabek.

At one point, there were 300 calls for service in the queuethat police were unable to respond to, she said.