Coaldale RCMP have arrested a man in Southern Alberta who rammed a police vehicle with a stolen white Dodge Ram truck on January 14th.

At 5:30 a.m. the Coaldale RCMP received a complaint of a man passed out in the drivers seat of a white Dodge Ram 1500 in a farmers yard located along Highway 512 within Lethbridge County, AB.

Coaldale RCMP had received numerous complaints of a similar type truck which was stolen previously from the Picture Butte area.

Complaints were also received from the public regarding a white Dodge Ram truck attending several rural locations possibly stealing fuel.

Two Coaldale RCMP members attended the location with the first officer positioning his vehicle directly in front of the truck in a attempt to block it in.

As the police member approached the drivers door of the white truck on foot the unknown male driver woke up, he began to drive forward pushing the police vehicle backwards and out of the way.

The police member was not injured.

The truck then fled the area and was located abandoned a few hours later in a rural area where it was confirmed the truck was stolen.

The RCMP vehicle sustained damages to the front grill and fender area but was still operational after the collision.

Throughout the day thanks to public tips from the earlier media release and information sharing from members of the Lethbridge Police Service, the identity of the suspect was discovered.

A second truck, a black 1993 Chevrolet, was reported stolen a short distance away from the abandoned white Dodge truck and around 4:20 p.m. the vehicle was reported in the Tempest area east of Coaldale as a suspicious vehicle.

Members from the Taber, Picture Butte and Coaldale RCMP Detachments along with a K-9 unit from the Lethbridge Police Service converged to the area.

The driver and lone occupant, a 32 year old man from the Lethbridge area, was followed from the Tempest/Chin area to the east side of Stafford Lake.

He ditched the stolen truck and ran on foot across the sort of ice covered Stafford Lake to the west side where he tried to enter a few vehicles before being lost in the residential area.

A home owner alerted RCMP members out front of his residence stating his garage alarm was just activated. The main door was tried and barricaded from the inside.

RCMP members entered the garage using the garage door opener and searched the double car garage.

The well hidden suspect was found trying to conceal himself above the garage door on a storage platform used to store light weight bulky items. The suspect was arrested without incident ending a long crime spree.

Charges are still pending so the name of the suspect will not be released at this time but he is facing nine criminal charges including break and enter, possession of stolen property, flight from police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, resist arrest and a number of provincial traffic offences including driving while suspended.

Police added that this incident obvious example of the valued assistance of the general public, local media and other police agencies coming together to identify, locate and safely effect an arrest of a suspect responsible for a number of rural crimes.