A Surrey, B.C., man who led police on a high-speed chase through the Fraser Valley that forced the diversion of a commercial airliner will spend about two months in jail, after credit for time already served.
James Christopher Jordan will spend another 61 days behind bars, and was handed a two-year driving prohibition Friday after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, fleeing from police, driving while disqualified and breaching his probation.
According to Abbotsford police, the RCMP’s Air 1 helicopter had been following an SUV with mismatched licence plates on Feb. 9, 2022, that was later determined to be stolen.
Mounties alerted Abbotsford police who attempted a traffic stop but the driver sped away.
During the ensuing chase, police said the SUV drove into oncoming traffic and on the shoulder of the road and blew through red lights – all at high speed.
The participation of the helicopter in the pursuit forced air traffic controllers at the Abbotsford airport to redirect an arriving Swoop airlines flight.
After about an hour, police said the suspect SUV crashed into a police vehicle in Langley and the driver attempted to flee on foot a short while later but was arrested with the help of a K9 unit, police said at the time.