Six months for pair of car chases

A St. Malo man, who fled police twice in “risky” car chases while nearly hitting multiple people, will serve time under house arrest.

Matthew Legal, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving in Steinbach court on Oct. 3.

“Driving is a privilege, and it’s one that you’re probably not going to have for a really, really long time,” provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick told the court.

Crown attorney Caitlin Hentig read out the case’s facts.

A Ste Anne police officer was working on March 18, 2024 in Ste Anne when he saw a pickup truck driving with no front licence plate on Centrale Avenue. The officer followed the truck and turned on the police car’s lights to pull it over.

Instead of stopping, the truck turned into a Co-op gas station parking lot, speeding through the lot and narrowly dodging multiple people walking around. The truck continued to accelerate, leaving the parking lot, rounding the building and exiting onto northbound Traverse Road. The truck then raced through multiple stop signs without stopping, reaching speeds roughly 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

The officer stopped pursuing the truck, due to public safety risks. He later returned to collect video footage from the Co-op, and the Ste Anne Police asked the public for help finding the driver. Police later received an anonymous tip that the truck belonged to St Malo resident Matthew Legal and gave his address. The officer arrived at Legal’s home for observation and saw the same truck with identifiable scratches in the driveway.

But while talking with potential witnesses, the truck left again. The officer again went to a Co-op gas station for surveillance and identified Legal as the driver. Five days later, the officer traveled to St Malo again, spotting the truck. He attempted to pull Legal over, Legal instead sped away from the officer at nearly 90 km/h on a 50 km/h street. The officer returned to Legal’s home where he finally made the arrest.

“In the event at the gas station, there’s other people around. There were people that were almost hit. So while putting the public at risk, there are still safety concerns,” Hentig told the court.

Defense lawyer Brett Gladstone said Legal went into “crisis mode” because he was driving without a licence and acted irresponsibly when the police officer first tried to pull him over.

“He wasn’t supposed to be driving in the first place, and he panicked. He made it a lot worse, and that is fundamentally the situation in a nutshell,” said Gladstone. “He really wishes he had not engaged this way, but when push came to shove, obviously he’s here, standing up and taking responsibility for it.”

Cornick accepted the joint-recommended sentence from both Hentig and Gladstone. Legal received a six-month conditional sentence and a one-year driving ban.

“It’s terrible because you went from what could have been a ticket, or worst case scenario a fine, if you were charged criminally for not driving with a license,” said Cornick. “Here you are now staring down the barrel of six months in custody.”