Blood Reserve man who led police on high-speed chase jailed

A Blood Reserve man who fled in a stolen truck late last year when Lethbridge police tried to pull him over has been sent to jail.

Timothy Scout had stolen a Ford F250, and when police tried to stop him as he drove through the downtown core about 3:30 p.m. Nov. 2, he took off at a high rate of speed.

Police chose not to chase the fleeing driver because of the volume of traffic and pedestrians in the area, but later in the day he crashed and was arrested after Claresholm and Fort MacLeod RCMP located the vehicle on Hwy. 23 south of Barons.

Scout pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court to single counts of motor vehicle theft and failing to stop for a police officer, and two counts of possession of stolen property. One of the possession charges related to the stolen truck, while the other related to a number of items Scout had in his possession which had been stolen during break-ins to other vehicles.

Scout, 31, was sentenced to nine months in jail, but given credit for the equivalent of 207 days spent in custody since his arrest, leaving him with 63 days on his sentence. He is prohibited from driving for a year, and he was ordered to pay restitution of $18,450 to the insurance company that insured the truck Scout had stolen and damaged.

Defence lawyer Tracy Hembroff told court Scout suffers from significant “acuity difficulties,” including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. However, Scout has received and will continue to receive counselling to help him, Hembroff added.