Vehicle fleeing police in Saskatoon smashes into oncoming van on Idylwyld

(Chad Hills / CTV News)

Two vehicles were totalled in a crash on Idylwyld Drive after a vehicle fled Corman Park police into oncoming traffic Tuesday morning.

According to Corman Park police Chief Robert Duttchen, officers from the RM attempted to stop a vehicle travelling south on Highway 11 over a “manner-of-driving complaint.”

In a statement Tuesday, Duttchen said the vehicle fled, and officers disengaged before the driver crossed the median into oncoming northbound traffic. There, it collided with an oncoming van near 60th Street East.

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Saskatoon police had traffic restrictions in place around 10 a.m. while officers examined the scene.

Video from the scene shows a van in the ditch, completely engulfed in flames. Afterward, the rusty and soot-marked wreckage sat lifeless at the side of the freeway with all the windows smashed out.

The driver’s side door of the van hung open, revealing its melted plastic panels.

The other vehicle, a large black SUV, also came to a stop in the ditch. The front end was completely crushed. The SUV’s airbags had all deployed and were still puffed up several hours after the crash.

According to Duttchen, the driver of the van was taken to Royal University Hospital in critical condition. One of the Corman Park officers was also taken to hospital as a precaution, the police chief says.

Since someone was seriously injured in the course of a police action, the province’s Serious Incident Response Team has been called in to investigate.