Fiery cab theft nets man 30 months
Spectacular crash followed downtown carjacking in 2017
A man who carjacked a Vancouver taxi and later crashed it into another vehicle, causing the cab to burst into flames, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.
In October, Steven Martin Jasper, 38, pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, theft and attempted robbery.
Court heard that on March 14, 2017, after getting into a Black Top cab in Downtown Vancouver, Jasper told the driver, “Go, hurry up, my wife is pregnant.” When the cab began to move, Jasper started going through the driver's backpack. The driver stopped the vehicle and asked Jasper to get out.
But Jasper got angry and grabbed the keys from the driver, who fled the cab in fear. Jasper sped away, weaving in and out of all four lanes of traffic and then tried to execute a right-hand turn onto Clark Drive from Venables Street, but smashed into a Mazda minivan that was stopped at the intersection.
As I have touched upon, it is a matter of considerable luck that no one was more seriously injured.
The cab burst into flames and Jasper fled the vehicle. He approached a BMW, also stopped at the intersection, got in the back of the female driver's car and said, “Just drive, they're going to shoot me.”
He climbed into the front seat of the vehicle, sat on top of the female driver and pressed the gas pedal while punching her. Another person came to the aid of the female driver, pulling Jasper out of the BMW, punching him in the jaw and holding him until police arrived.
At the time of the incident, Jasper, who was addicted to drugs and had entered a methadone maintenance program, was suffering from an adverse drug reaction that caused him to misperceive events.
In imposing sentence Thursday, Justice Ronald Skolrood said that the circumstances of the offences were “egregious” both in terms of the dangerous driving and the attendant risk to bystanders.
“As I have touched upon, it is a matter of considerable luck that no one was more seriously injured,” Skolrood said.
Skolrood noted that Jasper, an Indigenous man with a lengthy criminal record, had had a troubled upbringing and had suffered as a result of a disconnect from his Aboriginal heritage.
Skolrood imposed a sentence of 30 months, reduced to nine months and one week after credit for pre-sentence custody. After being released from prison, Jasper will be on probation for two years and have a three-year driving ban.