An angry mob menaced police and emergency workers, set a cop car on fire and damaged a hospital in La Loche, Sask., in the wee hours of Friday.

The melee started after two men tried to speed by a police truck on their ATVs. One of them crashed into a ditch and the other fled the scene.

The driver stood up in the ditch and was able to give his name, then passed out, police said in a news release.

While officers were tending to the 29-year-old man, beer cans and bottles started to rain down on them from several people who'd been partying at two nearby homes, police said.

People surrounded the police truck, swearing and blaming the cops for the injuries to the unconscious man. When the ambulance arrived, the EMS personnel were also pelted with bottles, cans and other debris, police said.

The ATV driver was taken to hospital, where police and hospital staff had to barricade the doors to keep out the crowd of 50-70 people that had shown up and tried to get in. Police believe the mob was trying to get at them and "forcibly remove" them, the release said.

"Members resorted to using pepper spray on several persons in the crowd to stop the entry," police said.

The entire La Loche RCMP detachment, which serves this town of about 2,300, was then deployed to the hospital to disperse the crowd and extract the officers from inside the hospital.

In the chaos, the ambulance that had transported the ATV driver was heavily damaged and a police vehicle was set on fire and destroyed.

No one involved was seriously injured. Police continue to investigate.