Police have arrested a man for firing gunshots into the air at a security checkpoint in Tawalah town in Hail on Sunday.

The man also faces charges of colluding with a traffic violator, Col. Abdul Aziz Al-Zenaidi, spokesman of the Hail police, told Arab News on Monday.

He said the 25-year-old man had arrived at the checkpoint because he wanted a vehicle the officers had impounded. He said the vehicle belonged to him. When the officers refused to release the vehicle, the man took out his gun and threatened them.

When he was confronted, the man ran away and fired shots into the air "as a cover for his escape," said Al-Zenaidi. However, officers managed to overpower the man, he said.

Al-Zenaidi said the vehicle, which had no license plates, was abandoned 30 minutes before the shooting incident by another young man who had performed various stunts with it close to the checkpoint. The man had fled on foot when officers tried to arrest him. The vehicle was towed to the checkpoint.

The police had earlier refused to give the vehicle to the man because they wanted to arrest the person who had driven it initially, said Al-Zenaidi.