Police officer stabbed outside Winnipeg HQ after stopping break-in

A  Winnipeg officer is recovering from a stab wound after finding someone breaking into his car outside the downtown police headquarters.

The 10-year veteran had just finished his shift around 3:30 p.m. Thursday when he saw a man trying to get into the vehicle. He identified himself as a police officer and tried to stop the man before he was attacked, police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said.

The officer was stabbed in the upper body but broke away from the attacker to phone his colleagues for help. ​Other officers arrived and arrested a 45-year-old man a short distance away.

The wounded officer was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to return to duty in a few days, Carver said.

"Obviously a very, very, very serious incident," he said. "Everybody's very thankful that this injury wasn't life-threatening and that we made an arrest."

Carver said the man breaking into the car was fortunate the officer was off duty and not armed, or the situation could have been much different.

"Someone coming at an officer with a knife is a deadly force encounter and we would fully be within our training to use deadly force as a response to that," he said.

Carver wouldn't provide more specifics about where on the body the officer was injured because "it becomes a reportable piece of what is essentially a court case."

Police union frustrated

Moe Sabourin, president of the Winnipeg Police Association, said the union is concerned that officers don't have a safe, secure parking area. He said that point has been raised many times with the police service.

"We've had members targeted where bad guys are waiting out in a vehicle, waiting for our officers to leave the station when they typically don't have their equipment belt and all the tools of the trade," he said.

I really think what's going to have to happen is somebody's going to have to lose their life and they're going to have to realize there's a liability.- Moe Sabourin

"Unfortunately, we've had members that have been seriously hurt, robbed, just to name a few."

Sabourin noted the officer stabbed Thursday suffered an injury to his left arm.

With the City of Winnipeg tightening its budget, Sabourin worries the parking concerns won't be addressed unless the problem becomes tragic.

"I really think what's going to have to happen is somebody's going to have to lose their life and they're going to have to realize there's a liability," he said.

"The police board is very frustrated with the mayor's budget. A 1.2 per cent increase isn't even maintaining the service to the citizens of Winnipeg, especially when you see the calls for service increasingly going up."