New Brunswick man faces 18 charges in Nova Scotia in theft of police car

A Moncton man is facing a long list of criminal charges after allegedly stealing a marked RCMP car in New Brunswick and driving it across the border into Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia RCMP say they've charged Kyle Douglas Smith, 37, with 18 offences:

• Assaulting a Peace Officer with a Weapon.
• Assaulting a Peace Officer.
• Operation While Prohibited.
• Flight from a Peace Officer.
• Dangerous Operation.
• Operation while Impaired.
• Possession of Property Obtained by Crime.
• Failure to Comply with a Release Order.
• Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose (two counts).
• Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm.
• Possession of a Firearm Knowing Its Possession is Unauthorized (two counts).
• Unauthorized Possession in Motor Vehicle (two counts).
• Possession of a Prohibited or Restricted Firearm with Ammunition.
• Possession of Weapon Obtained by Commission of Offence.
• Mischief.

He will later face additional charges in New Brunswick. 

According to RCMP, Smith was arrested on the afternoon of May 16 just outside Amherst, N.S., about 20 minutes after the incident started in Sackville, N.B.

Cpl. Hans Ouellette, a spokesperson for New Brunswick RCMP, said an officer was trying to arrest Smith outside a hotel when the theft happened.

"There was a point in time where that person resisted arrest and was able to gain access to the police car before the police officer was able to stop him, put his hands on him. And then, you know, [he] drove away."

New Brunswick RCMP alerted local police that Smith was entering the province.

Police say they tracked the vehicle through the car's GPS and laid out a spike belt around Fort Lawrence, N.S.

Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia RCMP, said the stolen vehicle collided with another RCMP car after sustaining damage from the spike belt.

A stretch of Highway 104 was closed for six hours. Tremblay said the closure was necessary for police to search the area on foot for evidence and to analyze the collision.

"You want to make sure that nobody in the vehicle would have thrown something out the window, for example," Tremblay said.

Separate investigations

The two RCMP jurisdictions have separate investigations, Tremblay said, with each one looking at events that happened on their own side of the border.

Smith remains in custody and is scheduled to appear again in Nova Scotia court next month.

Ouellette said Smith will then be transferred to face the charges in New Brunswick, at which point the details of those charges will be made public.