New Brunswick Man Arrested Following Crash in Florenceville-Bristol

A 28-year-old man remains in custody following a single-vehicle crash in Florenceville-Bristol, N.B.  

While patrolling the area on Monday, an officer with the Western Valley Region RCMP noticed a 2006 Toyota Corolla in a field off Route 130. Police say the car appeared to have rolled over and nobody was inside.

A short time later, police stopped a man walking near the intersection of Station Road and Main Street in Florenceville-Bristol and detained him in connection with the crash. While searching the man, police found a loaded Glock nine-millimetre handgun by his waistband. A brief struggle ensued but police were able to arrest the man and seized the firearm. Police say they later learned that the vehicle was stolen.

Twenty-eight-year old Chance Arthur Leslie of Middle Hainesville appeared in Woodstock Provincial Court on Tuesday and was charged with possession of a prohibited firearm.

At a court appearance on Thursday, he was charged with nine offenses related to the prohibited handgun, as well as obstruction, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, theft of a motor vehicle, and possession of stolen property.

Leslie previously spent time in jail in connection with a break-and-enter in Maugerville, N.B. in May 2018 in the midst of one of the worst floods in New Brunswick history. The CBC reported that Leslie stole a canoe and used it to gain access to a house that was surrounded by floodwaters, He fled the scene after waking up the homeowner, who was home alone without electricity. Two other men, including one from Perth-Andover, were also charged in the break-in. Prosecutors branded the men "flood vultures" for preying on people who were displaced from their homes by the flooding.