Fresh snow foils car thief's bid to escape Winnipeg police

A fresh layer of snow made for easytracking of an alleged car thief by Winnipeg police on Monday.

Officersspotted the stolen vehicle being drivenin the area of Main Street and Redwood Avenue around1:30 a.m., but the driver sped off when they tried to pull it over.

About 15 minutes later, police said, they saw itparkedin an alley in the 600 block of Cathedral Avenue. Although it had been abandoned, asingle set of footprints led away from the vehicle.

A canine unit was brought in and tracked the suspect to the area of Andrews Street and Machray Avenue, where he was found still in possession of the keys and taken into custody.

The vehicle was reported to have been stolen from the 1000 block of Henry Avenue on Friday night, police said.

A 39-year-old man has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime and failing to comply with a probation order. There were already warrants out for his arrest for the probation order, police said.