Winnipeg Police Services' (WPS) air unit haulted a violent assault last night.

At 9:00 p.m. WPS say they, "began to receive multiple reports of a violent assault that was occurring in the area of Arlington Street and St. Matthews Avenue."

Constable Ron Carver says the closest police unit to the area was Air1: "We didn't have cars that were anywhere near that close."

Within two minutes Air1 was able to able to arrive on scene and locate the assault in progress. The flight officer activated the Air1 siren which caused the suspect to halt the assault and run.

Carver says, "In all the time I have been doing this, I don't think I'm able to count on one hand the times our units have been able to intervene while someone is in severe danger."

Air1 tracked the suspect as he attempted to flee the area and directed ground units to where he was hiding in a yard in the 400 block of Arlington Street. The suspect, a 25-year-old male, was arrested without incident.

The victim, also a male in his 20’s, was located unconscious. He was transported to the hospital in unstable condition but has since been upgraded to stable.

"They are absolutely confident that we prevented very serious injuries and maybe even saved this individual's life," says Carver.

"Just sometimes we get lucky. This is one of those cases."

The incident, Carver says, was motivated by a robbery but the items stolen were of no value. Carver says it was, "A robbery for nothing."

Carver emphasizes that this incident is not so much about the success of Air1, but that a life was saved and, "The story here really is that an assault was halted."