A 47-year-old man who allegedly intentionally hit a police cruiser with his vehicle in Scarborough Saturday morning has been charged with attempted murder.

Officers were called to the intersection of Ellesmere Road and Gander Drive, east of Markham Road, just before 8 a.m.

Const. Caroline de Kloet said an officer was in his cruiser and stopped at the intersection when another vehicle approached.

She said the vehicle rammed into the cruiser twice.

"The (driver) got out of his vehicle had a knife in hand. The officer also got out and attempted to de-escalate the situation," de Kloet said. "He remained cool, calm, collected, and attempted to de-escalate the situation the best he could until further backup arrived."

When other officers arrived, they continue to use de-escalation techniques before the man was Tasered, de Kloet said.

The man was arrested and was transported to hospital with minor injuries. The officer whose cruiser was hit was also sent to hospital for assessment.

In addition to the attempted murder charge, police said the driver, identified as Toronto resident Lamont Hunter, is also facing dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of assault a peace officer with a weapon, weapons dangerous, and fail to comply with release order.

De Kloet said officers go through situations like this during training.

"It's one of those things you don't want to ever be in that situation, but it's common. And we can probably say that we've all been in a situation where somebody in front of us has had a knife," she said.

"This was a wonderful situation and a wonderful ending where everybody can go home at the end of their shift."

Following the incident, interim Police Chief James Ramer tweeted officers "across the city face unpredictable situations every day as they do regular patrols keeping this city safe."