A Phoenix police helicopter chase and standoff ended when officers shot gas at the vehicle and arrested the driver who had nearly crashed into officers responding to a call about a person threatening to “commit suicide by cop” late Friday.

Phoenix police went to a home near 27th and Missouri avenues just before 11:15 p.m. after receiving a call that a man was threatening to commit an act that would prompt officers to kill him, Sgt. Armando Carbajal said.

Carbajal said officers called the residents inside the home but were unable to confirm if the man threatening suicide was inside the residence.

While investigating outside the home, the man drove up and approached police, hitting an unoccupied police vehicle and nearly colliding with multiple officers, Carbajal said. The man failed to stop for the officers and drove away.

A police air unit followed the man’s vehicle as it drove onto northbound Interstate 17, Carbajal said. The man stopped on a freeway access road but refused to exit the vehicle, Carbajal said.

Carbajal said officers negotiated with the man and deployed non-lethal gas before the man surrendered. He was transported to a hospital for minor injuries and was to be booked into jail after his release, Carbajal said.

It was later determined that the man hit another vehicle on the freeway, Carbajal said. The Arizona Department of Public Safety was investigating the crash.

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