A 53-year-old Botwood man is facing serious charges after an attempted traffic stop in the town earlier this week turned violent.

RCMP attempted to pull a vehicle over on Commonwealth Drive in Botwood around 11:00 Sunday morning but instead of stopping, the vehicle continued on, coming to a stop at a property on Mill Road.

Police say Clifford Ellis was acting aggressively as he got out, threatening to damage the police vehicle. He got into a physical altercation with the officer and allegedly tried to grab the officer’s pistol from the holster.

The officer had to use a taser to take Ellis into custody.

He’s now facing charges of flight from police, assaulting and attempting to disarm a police officer, resisting arrest, and uttering threats.