Police chase ends in five-year sentence

By Delon Schurtz
Southern Alberta Newspapers

A former Regina man who led police on a couple of chases earlier this year has been sent to prison
Justin Wade Bourgon, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of robbery, attempted robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm, flight from police, and driving while prohibited. He was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary, banned from owning firearms and other weapons for life, and prohibited from driving for a year.
Court was told Bourgon, 31, was seen running from a pickup truck about 5 a.m. May 17 in Lethbridge after its window had been smashed and alarm triggered. One of the witnesses, an auxiliary police officer, gave chase on foot, during which Bourgon pointed a handgun at him. The officer caught up to Bourgon after he jumped into the passenger seat of a pickup truck, but the officer was forced to back off when Bourgon aimed a .22-calibre rifle at his face.
Only a couple of hours later that morning, Bourgon threatened at gun point a man sleeping in his truck outside a seed cleaning plant in Spring Coulee. But instead of turning over his truck to the armed fugitive, the man sped off and called police.
Police attempted to stop Bourgon as he neared the town of Magrath, but called off the chase for the public’s safety. The chase resumed later, however, when the suspect was again seen near Magrath, but it ended when Bourgon collided head-on with another vehicle near the Highway 5 entrance to the town.
He was apprehended following a brief foot chase.
Defence counsel explained Bourgon was under the influence of methadone at the time, and doesn’t remember the incidents. Methadone is often used as a pain medication and substitute drug in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction
Crown and defence jointly submitted a recommendation for a five-year sentence – with two-months credit for time spent in pre-trial custody – to which Judge Sylvia Oishi agreed.
“These are truly heinous offences rarely seen in this court,” Oishi said.