Man sentenced to 25 years to life for Canandaigua crash
CANANDAIGUA – A Farmington man who in 2021 led police on a chase in a stolen pickup truck with an attached cattle trailer that started in Livingston County and ended with a crash that nearly killed a woman in the city of Canandaigua has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Jeffrey J. Dibble, 48, was found guilty in March of first-degree assault, seconddegree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree grand larceny, second-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle, according to the Ontario County District Attorney’s Office.
State Supreme Court Justice Craig Doran on Wednesday ruled Dibble a persistent felon based on multiple prior felony convictions and sentenced him to 25 years to life on the assault and fleeing convictions. Doran also sentenced Dibble to 17 years to life in prison for the grand larceny and stolen property convictions and one year for the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle conviction, all of which will be served concurrently.
The incident unfolded after the truck was reported stolen from a Livingston County farm on Sept. 15, 2021.
A farm employee then saw the vehicle on Route 5 in the town of Canandaigua. A deputy attempted to stop the vehicle on Hopkins Road, but deputies said the driver tried to evade the deputy by driving on County Road 32 and into the city of Canandaigua via Bristol Street, where other police units joined the pursuit.
The nearby Canandaigua Primary and Elementary Schools were placed into lockdown as the pursuit entered the city.
Police said at the time that Dibble sped through the intersection of West Gibson and North Pearl streets, striking a Jeep and pushing it into a tree before it came to a rest in a yard at the intersection.
Dibble’s vehicle then rear-ended another vehicle on North Pearl Street before striking a utility pole, deputies said.
A mother who was traveling home after picking up her child’s trumpet was nearly killed in the crash, according to one of the prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney Anthony DiMartino.
In a prepared statement, DiMartino said in part that countless members of the community and law enforcement were left with “horrible memories and an all too real understanding that there are people like Jeffrey Dibble who can change your life forever in the blink of an eye.”
The case also was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Peter Van Dellon., who also in a prepared statement said in part the decision “cannot restore our victim to the person she was before Jeffrey Dibble changed her life forever, but this sentence will keep our community safe from Dibble.”