Woman dies in 3-car crash involving stolen pickup truck near Portage la Prairie

A 28-year-old woman is dead and a 24-year-old man is facing charges, including an impaired driving charge, after police allege he drove a stolen pickup over the centre line of a southern Manitoba highway and caused a three-car crash.

RCMP were called just before 11 a.m. Wednesday about the crash on Highway 26, approximately three kilometres east of Portage la Prairie.

Their investigation determined a pickup truck, later confirmed to have been stolen from Arborg, veered over the centre line while travelling west on the highway, causing an eastbound truck to swerve into the opposite lane to avoid a collision.

The eastbound truck then collided with an SUV driven by the 28-year-old woman, who was from High Bluff. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck that hit her, a 21-year-old man from the rural municipality of Portage la Prairie, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, RCMP said in a news release.

The stolen westbound pickup truck, after avoiding the other truck, hit the ditch and rolled.

The man driving that truck freed himself from the rolled vehicle and caught a ride from a passing motorist to a nearby gas station.

The motorist returned to the scene of the crash and told police where he dropped off the man.

Police found out the man had left the gas station in a cab and contacted the cab driver, who told them the man had been dropped off near a motel in Headingley and then fled on foot. He was later arrested by a police patrol.

The 24-year-old man from the RM of St. Andrews is charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, operation of a vehicle while impaired and failure to stop after an accident that resulted in death. He has been remanded in custody.

RCMP and a forensic collision reconstructionist continue to investigate.