Video footage from a police dash cam that captured the minutes between Okotoks police officers locating a suspected car thief and a police car crashing into a work truck was shown in a Calgary courtroom last week.
In July 2016 the Okotoks RCMP were notified of a suspected stolen vehicle at the Walmart. The car was stolen following a residential break and enter.
The dash cam footage shows officers approaching the stolen vehicle, which speeds off as officers pursue it on foot. Eventually, the vehicle’s driver eludes the police and takes off northbound on Southridge Drive.
The video shows the speeding stolen vehicle weaving in and out of traffic and driving the wrong direction on the four-lane highway. The stolen vehicle barely missed hitting a Volker Stevin pickup truck at the intersection of Northridge Drive and Elizabeth Street, and then the pursuing police car strikes the truck. Glass and car parts go flying at the end of the video in the busy intersection with other vehicles around.
The driver of the vehicle, 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 in March 2017.
His sentencing has been delayed several times to have a Gladue report, which looks at his aboriginal background, and a forensic report done by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist found he was a high risk to reoffend.
Chartrand’s defence attorney and prosecutors have presented their sentencing submissions to court.
Crown prosecutor Vince Pingatore said Chartrand should spend five to six years in jail.
“He remains a very high risk for recidivism,” Pingatore said.
He was on probation when the offence in Okotoks occurred, Pingatore said.
He also asked for a five year driving prohibition.
Chartrand’s lawyer, Andrea Urquhart, said the childhood of abuse and neglect from his mother and foster parents contributed to his behaviour.
“He was homeless at 17,” she said. “He was sleeping on the streets or at friends.”
She asked that Chartrand be sentenced to another two-and-a-half years in jail, explaining he now has two years credit for the time he’s already spent in the remand centre.
The jail term should be followed by two years probation, Urquhart said, during which he should be referred to a program offered through the John Howard Society that supports people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Judge Anne Brown asked to hear evidence from an administrator of the John Howard program and asked for a supplemental report to learn what programs are available for aboriginal offenders at federal healing lodges.
A new date for sentencing was set Tuesday.
