A car thief caused chaos Sunday morning, leading city police on a brief chase in the northeast, stealing not one but two cars in the process, police said.
Insp. Rob Williams said police noticed a car driving erratically along 68 Street near 16th Avenue NE around 11 a.m. but lost sight of it until the stolen Grand Prix crashed into another car at the intersection of 68 Street and 22 Avenue NE.
“When police arrived to the scene people were pointing to where the man took off to. Apparently he ended up at the Esso car wash where a man was washing his car, and stole his (Lexus),” Williams said.
That’s where things got crazy, said witness Richard George, who stopped at the gas station seconds later.
“If I was one minute earlier it could have been me, I left my car running to run inside and when I came out, he had just taken this other guy’s car,” he said, adding he won’t be leaving his car running unattended again anytime soon.
Williams said the car then headed south on 68 Street and hit another car, before police trapped him. Instead of stopping, the man rammed into a police car and took off again.
Police found the stolen Lexus in Abbeydale as they searched for the suspect, believed to be about 25 years old wearing a dark jacket and grey hoodie.
