Hitting police officers with the open doors of a stolen vehicle and fleeing has garnered a Calgary man a 140-day jail sentence.
Cody Petrie, 25, was sentenced in Calgary provincial court March 29 by Judge Catherine Skene.
The sentence was a joint submission by the Crown prosecutor and Petrie’s defence lawyer, Shaun Leochko.
Leochko told the judge a resolution was struck a day before a two-day trial was set to begin. He said there were issues around the identification of his client and charter issues that should mitigate his client’s sentence since he pleaded guilty, rather than taking it to trial.
Petrie was brought to the Okotoks RCMP’s attention April 9, 2018 when someone called in a complaint of a suspicious person sleeping in a vehicle in the Safeway parking lot.
When RCMP arrived, Petrie was in a stolen vehicle, which was not running, with his seatbelt on and was sleeping.
When officers woke him up and ordered him out of the vehicle, Petrie turned the car on. Petrie put the vehicle into reverse and the officers, who were attempting to take off his seatbelt, were struck by the vehicle door.
The vehicle then hit a police cruiser, the side of the Safeway and parked cars. An officer fired two shots, shattering the back window of the vehicle, but not hitting Petrie.
Petrie was able to get away, speeding down Southridge Drive. Civilians alerted police to the abandoned vehicle in a residential area and Petrie was arrested nearby at gunpoint.
Petrie was also sentenced for a break-and-enter and breaching his probation on charges in Calgary and was sentenced to 75 days in jail.
He has 21 more days to serve in jail on the Calgary charges taking into account his remaining pre-trial custody.
Leochko said Petrie had a difficult childhood.
“He spent time in foster care,” Leochko said. “His mother suffered from an addiction to prescription opioids. There was physical abuse in the home.”
Petrie’s father was an alcoholic who he never met until he was 14-years-old, he added.
Skene agreed with the joint submission and the lack of probation for Petrie, who has a drug addiction.
“You haven’t done well on probation,” Skene said.
Petrie was on 18 months probation at the time of his arrest in Okotoks. Leochko said Petrie is receiving help from the prison transition team and intends to continue using their services to address his depression and anxiety as well as find housing when he is released from jail.
ASIRT is investigating the Okotoks RCMP’s use of their firearms in this case, but no determination has been released.
In May ASIRT asked anyone with photos or video of the incident to contact them at 403-592-4306.
