(MELANCTHON TWP and COLLINGWOOD, ON) – Officers from the Collingwood and The Blue Mountains detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were alerted to a theft of a motor vehicle which had taken place sometime overnight from the 23rd to the 24th of July 2014.
The vehicle was stolen from a private driveway on Elm Street and was described as a 2002 Ford Explorer, red in colour, with an Ontario license plate of BNYV 218. (a previous media release was posted on the Collingwood/The Blue Mountains portal)
On the 24th of July 2014, a Grey County OPP officer out on patrols observed the vehicle on the 7th Line of Melancthon Township. The officer activated the cruiser emergency lighting, but the driver ignored the police vehicle and continued on into a driveway where he stopped the vehicle and ran into a wooded area.
West Region OPP Emergency Response Team (ERT) members and a West Region Canine (K9) officer were called to assist the Grey County OPP officers searching for the driver. He was eventually located in a barn on a Grey Road 9 property.
As a result of the incident, 33 year old Kevin BARBOSA of Melanchton Township has been charged with flight from police, drive while disqualified, possession of stolen property over $5,000, 2 counts of possess a controlled substance and fail to comply with probation. He was held in custody pending the results of a show cause hearing which took place on the 25th of July 2014.