Guilty pleas have been entered in the case of a wild incident that started in Carstairs and led to a collision between a van and multiple RCMP vehicles on the QEII Highway this past Summer.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29, Didsbury RCMP were called to a report of a suspicious person in a vehicle outside a Carstairs home.

When police arrived, a man fled on foot, broke into a nearby residence and started a van in an attached garage.

As officers tried to remove the man from the vehicle, the suspect drove out of the garage at a high rate of speed, hitting the garage in the process.

The suspect took off in the van out of Carstairs eastbound on Highway 581 and then onto southbound Highway 2. The van crossed the centre median and many drivers had to swerve out of the way as the suspect drove southbound in the northbound lanes.

RCMP units from Airdrie, Innisfail, and Olds were called in to assist and a roadblock was set up on northbound Highway 2 near the Highway 72 overpass.

As the suspect approached the roadblock, still driving in the wrong direction, he swerved and hit several police vehicles and went into the ditch.

The man was arrested, assessed on scene by EMS, and then transported to hospital as a precaution. Three RCMP officers were also assessed on scene by medics, with two receiving minor injuries that did not require hospitalization.

Kyle Robert Meckler, 35, of Sylvan Lake was charged with a total of 20 counts.

In Calgary court last week, Meckler pleaded guilty to seven on them: break and enter - not a dwelling house, possession of stolen property under $5,000, operation while prohibited, flight from a peace officer, obstructing a peace officer, and two counts of failing to comply with a release order.

Meckler was handed a global sentence of 37 months behind bars, with credit for 124 days spent in custody, and was given a three year driving prohibition.