A 31-year-old man is facing numerous charges stemming from an incident involving an off-road vehicle over the weekend that left a Portage la Prairie police officer with minor injuries.

Police say on April 2, at approximately 8:15 p.m., a patrolling Portage RCMP officer saw an off-road vehicle go through a stop sign, and continue to drive erratically on 4th Street NW, in Portage la Prairie. The officer initiated a traffic stop however the driver fled from police, lost control and spun out. The officer stopped his vehicle and police say the off-road vehicle started driving and struck the police vehicle, causing damage and injuring the officer.

A short time later, officers received a call about a male who was trying to get an off-road vehicle started in a field north of Portage. Police attended and located a male walking away. He was arrested without incident and taken to the RCMP detachment where he provided breath samples that were over twice the legal limit.

The man has been charged with dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, operation of a conveyance while impaired, operation of a conveyance with a blood alcohol content equal to or higher then 80 mg % causing bodily harm, failure to stop at the scene of a collision, and flight from a peace officer. He was released on court-ordered conditions and is scheduled to appear in court next month.

The RCMP says it would like to thank the numerous civilians who stopped and came to the aid of the injured officer as well as all the witnesses that provided information that led to the arrest of the man.