A man who took a Jeep that was left running for a joyride is receiving a lighter sentence because of what happened during his arrest.
According to court records, the vehicle belonged to an off-duty police officer.
On Aug. 21, surveillance video in Surrey captured a man being arrested around 7 p.m. at Whalley Boulevard and 100 Avenue.
It shows a police officer climbing on top of a Jeep and punching the man behind the wheel three times.
Other officers also responded to the situation.
A Surrey provincial court recently heard that the off-duty police officer left the vehicle running and went into a building.
Duane Hansen took it and drove away.
It is unclear what police force the off-duty officer is from.
After Hansen’s arrest, he was left with a five-centimetre laceration to his left eyebrow and some other facial injuries, court heard.
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He pleaded guilty to a charge of motor vehicle theft over $5,000.
However, the severity of the arrest led to a lighter sentence of 60 days in jail for Hansen. With credit for time served, he has 45 days remaining.
Crown counsel Gabriel Edelson said the circumstances of the arrest can be used as a mitigating factor during sentencing and said the Crown took that into account and recommended the 60-day sentence.
Judge Jodie Harris said, “I am also taking into account of the circumstances of the arrest,” when handing down the sentence.
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Retired RCMP officer Bruce Pitt-Payne says the arrest needs to be examined and typically that many officers do not respond to a stolen vehicle call.
“Why was a vehicle left running and accessible, easily accessible to a thief?” he said.
“It then leads me to ask, what was broadcast? Why is it that police officers decided to risk their lives to get into that vehicle in that dangerous way? Could there have been anything in that vehicle…were there weapons in that vehicle, police uniforms, et cetera?”
Pitt-Payne also said it is extremely dangerous for officers to crawl into a vehicle with a driver inside.
“Police officers have been killed doing this,” he said.
“It’s at the level of common sense that that should not be happening.”
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner confirms it is investigating the officers’ actions.
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