Kamloops RCMP say a 33-year-old local man was arrested Thursday afternoon after fleeing from a crash scene at a downtown intersection on foot.

Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Columbia Street around 2 p.m. yesterday, July 15, to a crash between white Ford F-250 pickup and a white Mazda sedan.

Southeast District RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey says about 45 minutes before the crash, police were called to a report of two suspicious vehicles – a silver Saturn sedan with no licence plates and the Ford pickup truck – in the parking garage of a property in the 400-block of Lansdowne Street.

He says the Ford truck was reported to police on Wednesday as stolen.

When approached by an officer, the driver of the truck allegedly reversed and “nearly” hit the police vehicle before fleeing the area at a high rate of speed.

“Recognizing the dangers posed to the general public, the police, and even the suspect, front line RCMP officers did not pursue the vehicle as it fled the area in an erratic manner,” O’Donaghey said.

Investigators believe the damaged truck rolled over a parked Harley-Davidson motorcycle and damaged a fence before it came to a stop at Sixth and Columbia.

O’Donaghey says the suspect was arrested a short distance away with a court appearance scheduled for today. A name was not released, but police say the driver was in violation of his probation and was prohibited from driving.

He now faces a number of potential new charges related to yesterday’s crash.

The driver of the Mazda meanwhile was taken to Royal Inland Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000.