MIDDLESEX CENTRE, ONT. -- Police had to deploy a spike belt to stop a man spotted driving erratically and flashing an edged weapon at bystanders in Saugeen First Nation on Sunday.

Grey Bruce OPP responded shortly before 1 p.m. for reports of someone driving aggressively - at high rates of speed and running stop signs - while also displaying an edged weapon at pedestrians and threatening a cyclist with a knife.

The blue car was later located on Highway 21, but when officers attempted a traffic stop, the driver got out of the car with an edged weapon in hand and had a conversation with police, but then got back in the vehicle, pulled a U-turn and fled.

Then when police deployed a spike belt in the westbound lanes of Highway 21, the driver attempted to avoid it and ended up crossing a ditch, two fence lines and part of a farmer's field before stopping in a swampy wooded area.

Police say the driver then fled on foot while carrying an edged weapon, but police were able to persuade him to drop the weapon and he was arrested.

A police investigation has resulted in charges for a 48-year-old Saugeen First Nation man including:

  • uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm
  • assault with a weapon
  • dangerous operation of a motor vehicle
  • flight from police
  • possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose

He was released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in a Walkerton court in September.