A man has been arrested in connection with a crash between two pickup trucks north of Winnipeg that sent him and four other people to hospital last week.
A Nissan pickup and a Dodge Ram 1500 were driving erratically at a high speed before the crash just south of Pritchard Farm Road in East St. Paul, shortly after 8 p.m. on April 10, RCMP said.
The man who was driving the Nissan and the occupants of the Ram — a 23-year-old woman and three men, ages 37, 30 and 26 — were all sent to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to a Monday news release.
The people in the pickup trucks had met up to exchange an item for sale, but the meeting degenerated into a physical fight among them before the vehicle chase that resulted in the crash, police say.
Police did not identify the item or who was selling it.
The driver of the Nissan has now been arrested for four counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and four counts of assault with a weapon, RCMP say.
The Mounties say anyone meeting with people they don’t know to buy or sell an item should avoid going alone, and choose an area that is well-lighted and highly populated, police say.
People should never enter another vehicle during those transactions, and ensure they have a way to leave the situation if necessary, police say.
The Nissan driver has been released for a future court date.
The police investigation into the crash continues.