‘You can run, but you can’t hide from the chopper’: Owner of stolen truck uses family’s helicopter to help track it down

‘He obviously didn’t choose the right truck to steal because with a helicopter ... it’s pretty easy to locate’

Emmanuel Toner used his father's privately-owned helicopter to pursue the thief who stole his truck and help police arrest him (Getty Images)

The owner of a truck that was stolen got his vehicle back and helped Canadian police nab the thief after pursuing it by private helicopter.

Emmanuel Toner’s pickup truck was stolen on Monday while he was in a gas station in Grand Falls, a town in New Brunswick, Canada.

According to Canadian broadcaster CBC, he had left the vehicle running when he went to get a receipt for his fuel from the station attendant, and saw his truck being driven away as he walked out.

Mr Toner turned to his local community on Facebook for help and posted a photo of his truck on the page of a grocery store he owns in the area. When he started receiving calls from people who had seen his truck, his father suggested using his privately-owned helicopter to conduct an aerial search.

After informing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about the reported sightings, Mr Toner, his father and brother-in-law took to the air 45 minutes after the truck was stolen.

They then spotted the truck speeding on a motorway and could see police in pursuit. But due to winding roads, police were slowed down, so Mr Toner provided them with updates from the air on the truck’s whereabouts and speed.

He told CBC: “I’m pretty sure at that point he knew we were following him with the helicopter. You can run, but you can’t hide from the chopper.”

To slow the driver down, police reportedly put down a “spike strip” — a device armed with long metal barbs pointing upwards used to pop the tyres of vehicles that drive over them.

Mr Toner said he thought the thief would slow down after driving over the strip, but instead he “stepped on it” and sped up so they could “see the smoke going out of the exhaust”.

It first appeared as though the spike strip didn’t work, but when smoke began appearing around the tyres, the driver pulled over down a small dirt road and tried to escape into the woods with police in pursuit.

The Toner family watched as the thief then ran out of the woods and got into one of the police cars, followed by armed police. The suspect was arrested about two hours after the truck was stolen.

“He obviously didn’t choose the right truck to steal because with a helicopter, if you know the whereabouts of the truck, it’s pretty easy to locate,” said Mr Toner.

He added he was glad his two young children were not in the back seat of the truck when it was stolen, and the incident should be a reminder for people not to leave their children unattended in a car.