SQ license plate check leads to 25 km car chase, arrest in farmer’s field

Sunday’s incident began on Highway 30 in the Sorel area and ended abruptly when the driver lost control of his vehicle in a field in Verchères.

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A routine license plate check by a pair of Sûreté du Québec highway patrol officers on Sunday led to a car chase that began on Highway 30 in the Sorel area and ended abruptly in a farmer’s field in Verchères, 25 kilometers away.

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The SQ announced the incident on Tuesday, saying a check of the license plate on an Infiniti G35 traveling on Highway 30 established the vehicle had been stolen. Upon seeing the SQ squad car, the driver exited the highway, dropped off a passenger and then resumed his flight from police.

The SQ officers pursued the vehicle southwest toward Verchères, where the driver decided to change course and head into a farmer’s field. Once there, however, he apparently lost control of the vehicle and wound up in a ditch.

He then tried to flee on foot and was finally taken into custody, but only after putting up “a fierce resistance,” according to the SQ.

A check of the suspect’s identity found he was being sought on 10 warrants — nine of them calling for his arrest — and a search yielded what police believe to be 70 grams of hashish.

The driver, a 33-year-old Montrealer, was taken to a hospital as a precaution; at the scene, he seemed to be intoxicated by drugs, alcohol or a combination of the two. He appeared in court in Sorel on Monday to face charges of dangerous driving, fleeing police, possession of a stolen vehicle and obstructing police, as well as drug charges.