Chris Clegg
South Peace News
An armed man involved in a high-speed chase with police March 8 is facing 24 Criminal Code charges.

Charles Edward Bleakley, 42, is scheduled to appear in Slave Lake provincial court March 15 to answer to charges. His place of residence was not disclosed.

Police report that on March 8 at about 11:45 a.m., Faust RCMP conducted a traffic stop near Range Road 102 and Township Road 734. The vehicle was reported stolen out of the Slave Lake area the previous evening.

“The lone male occupant stopped for police, then fled into a wooded area. The police officer heard what was believed to be one shot from a firearm while the male fled,” says Cpl. Ronald Bumbry.

Later, Bleakley was believed to be barricaded in an unoccupied building nearby. Police searched the building but the man was not located.

A short time later, Bleakley allegedly stole another vehicle near the area and brandished what a witness believed to be a firearm. The lone occupant of the vehicle was not injured and Bleakley fled.

“Road blocks were set up in the surrounding area and police located the stolen vehicle driving on Highway 33,” says Bumbry. “After a brief pursuit the suspect lost control of the vehicle and collided with a ditch.”

Bleakley was armed and barricaded in the vehicle. When police went to arrest him, he threatened to take his own life.

Later, around midnight, Emergency Response Team members arrested Bleakley without incident. The highway re-opened at 1 a.m.

Among the charges Bleakley is facing are two counts of failing to stop for a police officer, robbery, two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, and uttering a threat to cause death.