35-year-old man facing charges after Calgary firefighter ‘dragged’ by stolen vehicle

A 35-year-old man faces a slew of charges after a Calgary firefighter and peace officer were injured by a stolen vehicle on Saturday afternoon.

At 12:30 p.m., police responded to reports of a collision in the 100 block of Bermuda Drive N.W.

While at the scene, police said a firefighter was “dragged by the vehicle as the driver fled.”

The firefighter was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The suspect also allegedly rammed the vehicle of a peace officer who attempted to conduct a traffic stop outside of Calgary, police said. The peace officer involved had minor injuries.

While fleeing, police said the suspect also caused damage to an Esso gas station in Strathmore, Alta., and a railway crossing barrier, as well as attempted to ram several other police vehicles.

Officers said that due to the high-risk nature of the suspect’s driving, CPS deployed HAWCS to help locate and monitor the vehicle.

Once located, officers were able to safely put the suspect in custody.

Jakub Matthew Kornacki, 35, faces several charges, including three counts of assaulting a police officer with a weapon, three counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of mischief to property under $5,000. Kornacki was also charged with one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving, flight from a peace officer, cruelty to animals, possession of identity documents, resisting arrest and possession of stolen property over $5,000.

The Calgary man was also charged with 10 counts of breaching a release order. He’s scheduled to appear in court on July 18.

“In incidents like these, our priority is always to ensure public safety first,” Duty Insp. Jeff Pennoyer said in a news release on Saturday.

“The driver demonstrated little regard for the safety of the public and our fellow first responders, and as such, we dedicated our resources from across the service to safely resolve the incident.”