PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal
DATE: 2004.03.04
EDITION: Final
SECTION: CityPlus
PAGE: B1 / Front
COLUMN: Paula Simons
BYLINE: Paula Simons
SOURCE: The Edmonton Journal
ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Journal Stock / (Paul) McRae
NOTE: Ran with fact box “McRae Chronology”, which has beenappended to this story.

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Treat lethal drivers as the criminals they are: Justice system can’t cope with scourge

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Catch and release.

It’s not just for fish anymore.

When you read through the long, sordid saga of Paul McRae, it’s hard not to wonder just what it takes to keep a killer in jail around here.

For make no mistake. McRae is a killer. It’s just that his weapon is a vehicle, not a gun or a knife.

On Oct. 21, 2002, McRae ran over 89-year-old Ted Menard with a black extended-cab, four-by-four pickup truck. He dragged the frail great-grandfather’s body for about 60 metres. McRae then dumped his truck six blocks away from the accident scene and fled.

Police arrested him hours later, but had to let him go for lack of evidence. A month later, he was charged with dangerous driving causing death, criminal hit and run, and driving without insurance.

On Oct. 10, 2003, McRae pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of dangerous driving causing death, as well as leaving the scene of an accident.

He was released on bail and ordered not to drive. Yet on Oct. 27, just 17 days after his guilty plea, he was picked up by police for possession of stolen property, driving while disqualified, and four other traffic violations and taken into custody.

The Crown tried to have his bail revoked. But a judge refused that request, raised McRae’s bail to $5,000 and put him back on the street.

Two weeks later, on Dec. 29, police arrested McRae again for driving while disqualified.

Again, the Crown applied to have his bail revoked. Again, that application was denied and McRae was released.

On Jan. 29, he was arrested yet again, for failing to report to his probation officer, and again released.

This past Tuesday, McRae was supposed to appear in court to be sentenced for the killing of Ted Menard. But he didn’t show, and his lawyer says he hasn’t seen him in some time.

Police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for McRae’s arrest.

“I’m sure Mr. McRae will be in my courtroom again. I’m waiting for him,” Crown prosecutor John Watson says, philosophically.

“By not appearing, all he’s done is delayed the inevitable.”

I hope Watson’s right. But what a scandalous waste of police resources, to have the cops arrest a confessed, convicted criminal again and again, only to have the courts kick him free every time.

Blaming the judges is far too easy. The dysfunction here is more profound.

The Edmonton Remand Centre is full to bursting. There’s little room to keep a so-called “non-violent” offender like McRae, so he ends up back behind the wheel.

And although Heather Forsyth, Alberta’s solicitor general, is hoping to pilot a program this year to put electronic ankle monitors on offenders who are under house arrest, Alberta lags well behind other jurisdictions in using new technology to monitor the whereabouts of convicted criminals.

Meanwhile, our courts are so clogged, it takes a year to convict a guy who’s pleading guilty and another six months to sentence him once he’s convicted.

Our provincial government, which loves to talk tough about law and order, can’t seem to find the cash to maintain it, not even with a budget surplus in the billions and oil at $36 US a barrel.

But there’s a deeper, more subtle problem here than our underfunded, overworked criminal justice system. And that’s our entire attitude towards fatal vehicle “accidents.”

We just don’t take road deaths seriously. Our attitude towards car accidents is bizarrely fatalistic.

We act as if these deaths and maimings are inevitable, that we’re powerless to prevent them. Worse, we’re so wedded to the idea that car ownership is our inalienable right, we won’t stop the worst drivers from driving. We persist in treating motor vehicle offences as mischievous pranks or innocent accidents, not crimes.

Hardly a month goes by without another outrageous story about an incorrigible driver in our newspaper. The most recent was Campbell Neil Young. The 48-year-old had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he crashed his speeding van headlong into a truck driven by Ryan Burak, 20, a university honours student. Both men died.

Police later revealed that Young had an ugly driving history. In the past five years alone, he had been charged with impaired driving, criminal hit and run, and three counts of careless driving. He was also involved in three injury accidents and three property damage accidents.

Yet no one stopped Young from driving. He was free to get back behind the wheel, where he killed Ryan Burak.

Such road warriors are more dangerous to the general population than many traditional violent offenders. The odds are that most of us won’t ever be shot by a gang member or a bank robber. But serial rogue drivers are indiscriminate.

The next victim could be you, your son or your grandfather.

Our courts and our politicians aren’t going to take these criminals seriously, until we tell them to. While we wait for the police to catch Paul McRae, yet again, we have some time to reflect on why we treat killers with cars so differently from killers with guns.

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McRAE CHRONOLOGY

- Oct. 21, 2002: Ted Menard, 89, is hit by a vehicle. Police find a smashed-in abandoned truck registered to Paul McRae six blocks from the scene. Police arrest McRae early the next morning, but release him for lack of evidence.

- Nov. 21, 2002 — McRae surrenders and is charged with criminal negligence causing death, criminal hit and run, and driving without insurance. He is released.

- Feb. 16, 2003 — McRae ticketed for operating an unregistered motor vehicle and attaching unauthorized licence plates to his vehicle.

- Feb. 19, 2003 — McRae is ticketed for operating an unregistered motor vehicle and driving with a suspended licence.

- May 23, 2003 — McRae is charged with failing to appear after he misses a court date.

- June 10, 2003 — McRae is found guilty of driving with a suspended licence, attaching unauthorized licence plates to his vehicle and two counts of operating an unregistered motor vehicle.

- Oct. 10, 2003 — McRae pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing death and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.

- Oct. 27, 2003 — McRae is stopped by police and charged with possession of stolen property, driving while disqualified, breaching his bail conditions and a variety of motor vehicle offences. He is remanded.

- Dec. 4, 2003 — The Crown applies to have McRae’s bail revoked. The request is denied.

- Dec. 9, 2003 — McRae pleads guilty to possession of stolen property and driving while disqualified. He is sentenced to a day for each charge, but given credit for time spent in the remand centre.

- Dec. 29, 2003 — McRae is stopped by police and arrested for driving while disqualified and breaching his bail conditions.

- Jan. 6, 2004 — The Crown applies to have McRae’s bail revoked. That application is denied.

- Jan. 29, 2004 — McRae is charged with breaching bail conditions by failing to report to his probation officer.

- Feb. 20, 2004 — McRae is scheduled to be sentenced for the death of Ted Menard. The matter is put over because Judge Peter Caffaro is assigned to the Dar Heatherington case.

- March 2, 2004 — McRae fails to appear for sentencing and a Canada-wide warrant is issued for his arrest.