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CALGARY - When a man drove off after being pulled over for speeding, a police officer inadvertently ended up going for a ride, dragged along the street before literally putting the brakes on the get-away bid.
And after putting the car in park Const. Sean LaBrie, the lone officer who single-handedly took on the fleeing driver yesterday, made his arrest.
"He's in good spirits and glad he made the arrest," Insp. Jim Stinson said after visiting the veteran officer in hospital where he was treated for a torn rotator cuff, bruises and scrapes.
"He's got a super attitude, he's a great police officer."
The ordeal unfolded just before 10 a.m. when the traffic officer spotted a white Chevy Impala speeding eastbound on 16 Ave. as it approached the Deerfoot Tr. overpass.
The driver pulled over but LaBrie was suspicious.
He called for back-up before reaching in to pull the driver out of the car.
"Everything was going well until he decided to arrest the driver," Stinson said.
"The driver put the car into gear and started driving away."
Pinned between the door and the car's body, LaBrie was dragged 200 metres as the vehicle sped away.
But he wasn't giving up on catching his man.
"He still had the wherewithal to get into the car when it was moving and wrestle with the driver, put his foot on the brake, put it into park and still (made) the arrest," Stinson said.
"I've got to commend the police officer for getting into the vehicle before it went down the road and created havoc. He went above and beyond. In 27 years, I've never seen anything like this."
Neither had David Maskwa and his buddy, Ian, in a car clipped by the Impala as it sped off, offering them a glimpse of the dramatic and death-defying arrest.
"We didn't know what was going on," Maskwa said.
"The cop was hanging out of the car ... it was wild."
Motorist Eduardo Gallego said one minute he was watching an officer standing beside the car, the next, he saw the officer inside as it swerved down the road. "It was very fast. The police grabbed the window and his legs were hitting the road."
After the car was stopped -- mere feet from a busy intersection -- LaBrie and his back-up, who arrived seconds later, arrested the driver and a woman also in the car.
Charges against the man driving the car were pending and could include obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest, and of course, a speeding ticket.
NADIA.MOHARIB@SUNMEDIA.CA