Dangerous driver handed 285 days in jail

A man who ran a red light near two schools in Brandon as he was fleeing police after stealing from Giant Tiger in July was sentenced to 285 days in jail.

“This conduct created the potential for catastrophic consequences,” provincial court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said Thursday afternoon as she delivered her sentencing decision for 45-year-old William Beaulieu.

Last week, the accused pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle, theft under $5,000 and mischief under $5,000 for an incident that occurred on July 16. The Crown stayed charges for fleeing police and impaired driving.

Crown attorney Melania Cannon and defence lawyer Chian Jok jointly recommended a 60-day sentence for the dangerous driving charge, but it was rejected by Hewitt-Michta, who said it was “markedly disproportionate” to the gravity of the offence and would have been contrary to public interest.

Court heard Beaulieu stole various items from Giant Tiger on Victoria Avenue, including a children’s backpack, paintbrush and duct tape before he fled the parking lot in a black truck.

“Fortunately, police were close by and arrived in time for the store employee to point out the truck the accused was driving away in,” Hewitt-Michta said.

Officers observed Beaulieu stop in the middle of the intersection of 26th Street and Victoria Avenue to remove a white piece of paper that was concealing the vehicle’s licence plate. Then he got back into the driver’s seat and headed east.

“The accused failed to stop” when police tried pulling him over and he blew through the 20th Street traffic control signal and pedestrian crosswalk between Brandon University and Earl Oxford School, she said.

A second police vehicle was able to block his path before he crossed the intersection at 18th Street, she said.

“I note the flight here was relatively short in duration, but the accused deserves no credit for that,” Hewitt-Michta said.

“It did not end because he thought better of his actions, gave up and stopped. It was contained quickly because of the excellent work of the Brandon Police Service, who were fortunately able to foil a serious risk to public safety.”

She said Beaulieu frustrated police further by switching places with the passenger in the vehicle. When officers spoke to the truck’s occupants, he admitted to consuming edible cannabis earlier that day.

While a breathalyzer test showed there was no alcohol in his system, police arrested Beaulieu and took him to the Brandon Regional Health Centre to have his blood drawn.

“His attitude changed for the worse while waiting for that process, and he took it out on the cruiser car, damaging the vehicle,” Hewitt-Michta said.

“The damage to the police car was gratuitous and impacts the city’s taxpayers, who ultimately foot the bill for that damage.”

After Beaulieu had his blood taken, he was detained in custody at the police station and was eventually transferred to the Brandon Correctional Centre. Results of the blood draw are not available yet.

“The accused not only drove dangerously but fled from police down a busy thoroughfare in an urban centre at a time when we expect there to be lots of vehicles and pedestrian traffic,” she said.

Beaulieu, an Indigenous man with ties to Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, plans to work and live in Pine Creek First Nation.

He grew up impacted by colonialism, the residential school system and the child welfare system, Hewitt-Michta said.

Cannon and Beaulieu’s lawyer recommended a total sentence of 165 days for all the offences, including two counts of failing to report to his probation officer between June and July 2025 — which he previously pleaded guilty to. They also suggested he face a 12-month driving prohibition and 12-month unsupervised probation order.

Hewitt-Michta said both counsel provided no case law or further submissions to justify the recommendation for the driving offence, which “falls short” of sending a clear message that his behaviour was dangerous and intolerable.

“The approximate range of sentence for dangerous driving involving flight from police to evade capture on the preceding offence for a mature offender with a storied criminal history is six to 12 months,” she said.

The judge sentenced Beaulieu to six months for the driving offence with an additional 105 days for the remaining charges and a one-year driving prohibition.

Beaulieu will spend another 103 days in jail after credit for time already served.

“I think you would feel just terrible if you had hurt one of those police officers, or if you had slammed into a vehicle carrying a family in our community and killed someone or seriously hurt someone,” Hewitt-Michta said to Beaulieu.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com