An Alberta man has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for a September 2015 high-speed chase near Whitecourt where the driver ran stop signs, drove on the wrong side of the highway and slammed into a police vehicle.
With credit for time already served, Mitchell Elmore will spend another 18 months behind bars, to be followed by three years of probation.
Elmore, 36, was found guilty on eight criminal charges including dangerous driving, flight from police, possession of a stolen license plate and leaving the scene of an accident.
When RCMP searched his vehicle, they also found 895 fentanyl pills and 36 grams of methamphetamine. Elmore was also convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Elmore’s run-in with the law began around 9 p.m. on a Friday nearly four years ago in Whitecourt, when RCMP decided to pull him over for failing to stop at a stop sign. Once officers activated their lights, Elmore took off.
RCMP dashcam videos were entered as exhibits at Elmore’s trial. They show Elmore going through stop signs and colliding with an RCMP vehicle.
There was significant damage to the police car but the officer inside suffered only minor injuries.
Elmore rammed the vehicle and kept driving with several other RCMP cars in pursuit.
At one point, Elmore entered a divided four-lane highway driving on the wrong side. He weaved around cars and trucks approaching him at high speed, narrowly avoiding head-on collisions.
When it appeared he would be boxed in by two police vehicles, Elmore hit the ditch and kept driving.
The chase lasted almost 12 minutes before RCMP called it off for public safety reasons.
RCMP found Elmore’s truck abandoned at a trailer park. The accused had fled on foot but was later captured and arrested. He’s been in custody ever since.
In Court of Queen’s Bench Monday, Justice Gaylene Kendell said Elmore put public safety, police safety and his own safety at risk that night.
“You engaged in a very dangerous driving pattern, including speeding, driving into oncoming traffic and a collision with a police vehicle,” Kendall said.
The judge also noted Elmore had done the same thing about seven months earlier when he led Grande Prairie RCMP on another high-speed chase. He damaged a police vehicle in that incident as well. At the time of the Whitecourt pursuit, there was already a warrant out for his arrest.
‘Not the same man who fled from police in 2015’
At an earlier sentencing hearing, the Crown asked for a nine=year prison sentence, while the defence suggested he should be placed on probation, with credit for time already served.
The court was told Elmore was heavily addicted to oxycontin.
“He is clearly a drug addict,” Kendall said. “An addict who commits crimes to support his habit and because of his addiction.”
But she noted that since his arrest, Elmore has turned his life around.
“Mr. Elmore is not the same man who fled from police in 2015,” the judge said.
Three weeks after his arrest, Elmore found out he was going to be a father and is determined to play a role in his child’s life. He has gone through intensive addiction counselling and received glowing reports from those who worked with him. Elmore became involved in boot camp at the Edmonton Remand Centre and now serves as a mentor to others coming into the program.
The judge called Elmore’s efforts to attain sobriety “impressive” and gave him credit for the significant childhood trauma he endured as well as his prospects for rehabilitation.
Before Elmore was led back to a cell, the judge wished him good luck for the future.