Man gets five years in killing of officer
Dragged Calgary policeman at traffic stop
CALGARY • The passenger in the SUV that dragged Calgary police Sgt. Andrew Harnett to his death during a routine traffic stop in 2020 was handed a five-year prison term Friday.
Amir Abdulrahman, 20, pleaded guilty in December to a reduced charge of manslaughter in connection with the New Year’s Eve death of Harnett, who was dragged more than 400 metres along the side of a vehicle he’d stopped
WHAT IF HE YELLED ‘STOP’ TO THE DRIVER?
for inadequate headlights. Abdulrahman had been charged with first-degree murder.
When a fellow officer attempted to arrest Abdulrahman, who was in the front passenger seat, on outstanding warrants the vehicle took off with Harnett clinging to the driver’s side door.
Abdulrahman grabbed the steering wheel on three occasions before the officer lost his grip and as a result, his life, when struck by an oncoming car.
Crown prosecutor Mike Ewenson, who proposed an eight-to nine-year prison term, told Justice Robert Hall the event could have played out in a much different way had Abdulrahman tried to stop the driver, a minor who is to stand trial early in the new year for first-degree murder.
“Oh how everyone’s life would be different if, in that moment, he decided to show compassion,” the prosecutor said during Abdulrahman’s Dec. 8 sentencing hearing.
“What if he yelled ‘stop’ to the driver?” Ewenson said, suggesting he could have saved Harnett’s life and perhaps received a chief ’s award as a result.
But defence lawyer Balfour Der, who proposed a two-year term followed by two years of probation, said his client simply didn’t have time to take actions that could have prevented the tragedy.
“It happened within seconds,” Der said.
Court also heard compelling victim impact statements from Harnett’s widow, Chelsea Goedhart, who was pregnant with their only child at the time of his death, and the dead officer’s brother Jason and mother, Valerie.
“I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my travel partner, my confidant, my steady anchor, my cheerleader and my companion and the parent of our child,” Goedhart said in her statement to the court.
“Because of the criminal actions of Mr. Abdulrahman, the joy of my pregnancy was stolen. We were never going to get to be a family.
“My son’s innocence was taken before he was born.”
Valerie Harnett said she used to read the Robert Munsch classic Love You Forever to him and he’d tease her for crying with a “boo hoo.”
“Well Andrew, boo you! I love you forever, as long as I’m living your very proud mother I’ll be.”
Before Hall adjourned to January to give his sentencing decision, the offender addressed the court.
“I’m so sorry for every tear that you guys shed,” he told Harnett’s family.
“I’m here and I’m scared, but I know this is the right thing to do.”