Arrest made after reports of man hanging from moving vehicle turns out to be domestic dispute

By JEREMY APPEL on August 14, 2019.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel

Police responded Monday evening to a man hanging on to the outside of a vehicle while it was being driven by his female partner, with whom he had been in a domestic dispute earlier.

Around 6 p.m., cops received multiple 911 complaints about the man hanging from a grey GMC Acadia, which was being driven in the Dunmore Road and Southview Drive area, according to a Medicine Hat Police Service news release.

Witnesses heard the driver shouting for help as the man held on to an open rear window, before the vehicle stopped on Dunmore Road near 20th Avenue SE.

MHPS Staff Sgt. Stacey Kesler told the News the incident was initially reported to police as a carjacking.

“Throughout the course of our investigation, we realized that it was actually a domestic violence incident and not a carjacking,” he said.

The MHPS doesn’t typically publicize domestic disputes, but Kesler says due to the amount of calls received regarding the incident and confusion concerning its nature, it made sense to issue a news release.

“Our response was tailored to the information we had at the time and given the multiple 911 calls for the behaviour, that’s why we’ve released this information,” said Kesler. “We don’t normally get dispatched to carjackings and that’s how it was initially reported to us.”

Kesler says the couple is from Calgary and was just “travelling through” Medicine Hat on their way elsewhere.

The 37-year-old man, who cannot be identified until his bail hearing, faces a charge of uttering threats.

He was treated on scene by paramedics for minor injuries and is in custody at the police station’s short-term holding facility.