A B.C. man who ran away from a high-speed crash on Ray Gibbon Drive will have his weekend plans moved to jail for quite some time.
Ronald Ford McRae, 38, was sentenced to the three months in custody on top of nearly two months of pre-trial custody and was also placed on two years probation after pleading guilty to several criminal charges on Monday.
McRae’s 90 days will be served on weekends, allowing him to keep working during the week as a journeyman carpenter.
He pleaded guilty to impaired operation, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, three counts of breaching his bail conditions as well as a ticket for driving with no insurance.
Several other drivers spotted a Chrysler 300, with McRae behind the wheel speeding and apparently racing on Ray Gibbon Drive, around 11 p.m. on Jan 16.
The race came to an end when the sedan collided with an Acura MDX crossover SUV after veering into the wrong lane.
When police arrived on scene, McRae had left the car. A passenger in the Chrysler 300 told police he had been driving with a guy named Ron before the collision.
The passenger from the sedan and both a driver and passenger from the Acura were transported to hospital with relatively minor injuries.
Officers could see footprints in the snow heading away from the accident, headed toward a treed area. They called in a K-9 unit and received help from the Edmonton police helicopter Air-1.
They found McRae a short time and distance away and discovered that in addition to his crimes that night he was on bail with conditions that he respect a curfew, remain in British Columbia and abstain from alcohol.
He was also taken to hospital, but was quickly released and had been in the Edmonton Remand centre since the accident.
Initially after McRae’s guilty plea, Crown Prosecutor Jeff Morrison suggested the case go over for a pre-sentence report, but McRae asked Judge Jeanne Burch to consider sentencing him right away.
McRae said he had been assaulted in jail, had been triple bunked and was in danger of losing his job if he spent any more time in custody.
Morrison argued for a six-month sentence, while the duty counsel representing McRae suggested a time served sentence with probation might better cover it.
Before handing down her sentence, Judge Jeanne Burch said it was only through chance that someone hadn’t been more badly hurt.
“The potential for a far graver situation certainly existed.”
While on probation, McRae will have to abstain from alcohol and report regularly to a supervisor.
He was also handed a two-year driving prohibition and was fined $2,875 for driving with no insurance.
