Three women are facing charges after an RCMP officer was struck by a vehicle as he tried to stop them from shoplifting from a Halifax grocery store.
Police responded to the Atlantic Superstore on Joseph Howe Drive at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.
Police say a security guard followed two women suspected of shoplifting out of the store to a car where another woman was waiting for them.
A plain-clothes RCMP officer responded to the scene and tried to stop the women before they entered the car.
Police say he identified himself as a police officer, but that the women ignored him and got into the car.
Police say the officer identified himself a second time and advised the driver and occupants to stop because they were under arrest for theft.
However, police say the car accelerated and struck the officer, who pushed off the hood to prevent himself from being run over as the car fled the scene.
He wasn’t injured and was able to obtain a licence plate number and vehicle description.
A short time later, RCMP officers located the car travelling outbound on Highway 102 and stopped it between exits 4C and 5.
The three women were arrested at the scene without incident.
Dana Jessome, 26, and Karen MacDonald, 45, both of Sydney Mines, and Kimberley O’Dea, 34, of Sydney, each face charges of theft under $5,000, possession under $5,000, assault of a police officer with a weapon and uttering threats.
Jessome has also been charged with dangerous driving.
