Six guilty pleas were entered last week to a summer 2016 crime spree that included Okotoks police officers being run down in a stolen vehicle.
On July 14, 2016 Okotoks RCMP officers located a suspected stolen vehicles in the Walmart parking lot.
The vehicle was one of three reported stolen from a residence. When police tried to stop the vehicle, the driver allegedly tried to run them down and struck several cars. Officers followed the vehicle on Northridge Drive and the suspect drove head-on into southbound traffic.
Police said they called off the pursuit, but a police vehicle then struck a Volker-Stevin truck at the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Northridge Drive.
The suspect vehicle was later apprehended by High River and Okotoks RCMP.
James Chartrand, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, assaulting two police officers, criminal hit and run, housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle and fraud under $5,000.
Chartrand was in a Calgary courtroom March 1 to enter the pleas. He is in custody on other charges.
A psychiatric report was ordered to assess Chartrand’s risk to re-offend. Defense lawyer, Alin Mayer, said Chartrand’s lawyer, Andrea Urqhart is attempting to locate a fetal alcohol diagnosis done when Chartrand was a youth.
“You’ll probably undergo a battery of psychiatric tests,” said Judge Ann Brown, who will sentence Chartrand July 12.
Crown prosecutor Vincenzo Pingitore said he is working on an agreed statement of facts with Urqhart and will have it filed this week.
