VANCOUVER -- A man is in custody after a police incident that began in Abbotsford and ended with Highway 1 briefly shut down in both directions on the North Shore Wednesday afternoon.
According to a release from the RCMP's Fraser Valley Traffic Services unit, the man was pulled over on Highway 1 near Bradner Road in Abbotsford for a "routine traffic stop" just after 1 p.m.
He was driving a vehicle with Ontario licence plates, and the officer who stopped him checked his identification and determined he was wanted on six warrants from another province, police said.
When the officer who stopped the man attempted to take him into custody, police say the man assaulted the officer and "an altercation ensued," during which the driver took the keys to the officer's police vehicle.
The wanted man then fled the scene in a small black car, leading police through several municipalities along Highway 1, police said.
Officers followed the suspect vehicle from a distance, communicating with RCMP detachments and municipal police departments along the route to find opportunities to stop the vehicle safely, according to RCMP.
That opportunity came on the Capilano River Bridge in West Vancouver. Police said traffic slowed to a stop, allowing officers from the Vancouver Police Department and the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Service to stop the vehicle. A West Vancouver police officer also assisted in the man's arrest.
Around 2 p.m., West Vancouver police tweeted they were responding to an incident on the highway near Taylor Way and warned drivers to avoid the area. Police said the highway was closed in both directions, but quickly updated to say one lane had reopened westbound. Police later confirmed that eastbound lanes had fully reopened just before 3 p.m.
