Dunlop sentenced for evading police
Having been acquitted on charges related to the injury of a Regina Police Service member, Jason John Dunlop returned to court Thursday for sentencing on the only remaining charge from that series of events.
During his May trial, Dunlop entered a guilty plea to a charge of evading police. A Regina Court of Queen’s Bench jury later found him not guilty of other charges, including criminal negligence and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
The charges related to events from May 14, 2014, in which a plainclothes officer suffered long-term, serious injuries when he became pinned between an unmarked police vehicle and the stolen truck driven by Dunlop.
Defence lawyer Dave Andrews argued his client did not realize the man approaching him with a gun and reaching into his truck was a police officer. Dunlop also testified he had no idea at the time anyone had become pinned while he was speeding away.
Later that May date, another police officer — this one operating a marked car — spotted Dunlop and tried to pull him over. Dunlop took off and the officer soon discontinued the pursuit.
That evade resulted in the guilty plea and, on Thursday, a sentence that — combined with a range of other, unrelated offences — leaves Dunlop with six months to serve. In total, his sentence sits at 38 months.
The sentence also accounts for several break-ins and possessions of stolen property, as well as resisting arrest and an unlawfully at large charge related to an Alberta prison sentence for another policerelated driving incident.
While Dunlop, now 35 and a father of three, has a long criminal record, Andrews told the court there are positives in Dunlop’s life, such as family support and a strong employment history.
Unfortunately, problems with drugs and gambling reared their heads.