A Regina man is facing charges, including attempted murder, after he allegedly assaulted a woman and led police on a pursuit outside the city.
Police say the incident started around 5:40 a.m. Monday when they received a report that a man was assaulting a woman in a truck parked near a business on the 400 block of McCarthy Boulevard North.
Officers located the truck, which was travelling eastbound on Seventh Avenue North and then southbound on McCarthy Boulevard. The woman in the truck was “observed to be in apparent distress,” police said.
When the officers turned on their lights and siren, the truck accelerated away. Police say the officers saw the driver strike the woman repeatedly in the head during the pursuit. The woman tried several times to get out of the moving truck, but the driver pulled her back inside the vehicle.
The pursuit continued through the city, with the driver of the truck disobeying several traffic signals. The truck eventually drove out of the city on Ninth Avenue North. Police say the truck reached dangerous speeds as it fled westbound on Dewdney Avenue to Highway 730 and then onto Highway 642.
As the truck slowed down to turn westbound from Highway 642 onto the Trans-Canada Highway, it collided with marked Regina police cars. The woman was able to jump out of the truck through the passenger-side door as the collision occurred. Regina police stopped their pursuit and called EMS for the victim.
The truck continued travelling westbound on the Trans-Canada Highway and was later found in a ditch at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 39. Moose Jaw police located the driver and helped officers from Regina take him into custody.
The 52-year-old woman is being treated in hospital for serious but non-life threatening injuries consistent with a severe, extended physical assault, police said. The driver was treated by EMS for self-inflicted injuries.
Aaron Michael Murphy, 39, of Regina faces charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and evading police. He has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon.
