On Friday, the 26th day of July 2019, at approximately 3:30am, the West Grey Police Service and Hanover Police Service were notified of the theft of a black GMC pickup truck from a Concession 14 residence in Normanby Twp. While enroute to speak with the victim, police located a white Chevrolet van that had been abandoned in a field. Further investigation showed that this van had been stolen from a Hanover residence the night before.
Hanover Police were enroute to assist at the Normanby Twp incident when an officer observed a vehicle matching the description of the just-reported stolen pickup, northbound on County Road 10 north of Neustadt. Hanover Police attempted to stop the stolen truck but it refused to pull over and continued into Hanover. The truck turned south on 7th Avenue then continued onto South Durham Road where it lost control and spun-out off the roadway. Police were only seconds behind but when they pulled up on the scene, they found the driver had already fled on foot into nearby thick brush in the area of the south portion of the Hanover Trail system. Officers from Hanover, West Grey, and the OPP set up a broad perimeter in an attempt to contain the area. In less than an hour, an OPP K-9 unit arrived on scene along with members of the OPP’s Emergency Response Team (ERT). The area was searched extensively without success as the suspect managed to avoid detection.
An extensive collection of power tools that were missing from inside the recovered stolen white van taken from Hanover the night before were found in the back of the recovered stolen GMC pickup. The GMC truck has been towed to the West Grey Police Service and secured pending examination by the Scenes of Crime Unit.
Anyone with information as to who was driving the black GMC pickup truck or the white Chevrolet van is being asked to contact the West Grey Police at 519-371-6911 or the Hanover Police at 519-364-2411 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS should you wish to remain anonymous.