ARNPRIOR CRASH SUSPECT HAS A HISTORY OF BIZARRE RUN-INS WITH THE LAW
Zachary Wittke, the 20-year-old Eganville man charged in the Arnprior crash that killed Sheila Welsh on Monday, has a bizarre and colourful history of run-ins with the law dating back to a cross-border police chase when he was 16 that made international headlines.
In 2013, Wittke took off with a 13-year-old female companion in a crime-filled odyssey in a series of stolen vehicles that a Maine sheriff termed a “Bonnie and Clyde thing.”
It began with a stolen vehicle that was later abandoned in Bells Corners before they stole a second vehicle in Ottawa, later abandoned near Sherbrooke, Que. The couple stole another car and eventually ended up in custody in Maine, but only after they had blown through the Canada-U.S. border, colliding with border patrol vehicles whose officers fired at their car, abandoning the car, stealing a pickup truck, then crashing it during a chase that hit speeds over 160 km/h. The truck jumped down an embankment into the Carrabassett River.
The teenage girl, who was not charged, was injured in the jump.
The couple later told police they didn’t mean to cross into the United States and were led there by GPS.
In 2016, Wittke was involved in another bizarre incident in Ottawa. Then 19, he stabbed himself inside a bathroom at the Chapters store at the Pinecrest Shopping Centre. He had arrived there after posting a video of him driving a stolen truck to Facebook claiming he was “homicidal and suicidal.”
In the video, he challenged police to come after him, saying, “If you chase me, I will make sure someone dies.”
He claimed to be armed with a hammer, knife and ratchet and threatened to kill a police officer.
Confronted by a police officer at the store, he pulled out a knife and ran to the hallway where the washrooms are.
Tactical officers arrived and drew Tasers and firearms.
As with the Arnprior crash, Ontario’s police watchdog was called in to investigate. The SIU cleared Ottawa police officers of any wrongdoing.
In April 2016, Wittke was sentenced to two years in jail and two years’ probation.
Wittke’s mother, Valerie, said after he was arrested in Maine that the teenager suffered from mental health problems. She said he had been in trouble with the law before the cross-border car chase and was on probation at the time.