Cabbie's death just a joke for teen

But police and justice officials disagree, saying the teen's shocking reaction during a videotaped interview shows how little respect young criminals have for the law and public safety.

"In all my years as a Crown attorney, I have never seen a video like this. The words unremorseful, uncaring, cold-hearted can only touch on this statement," prosecutor Liz Pats told court this week.

"She laughs through the entire video... . She even says she's going to laugh in the judge's face in court."

The girl has pleaded guilty to being one of six passengers inside the stolen Chevrolet Avalanche that ran a red light and smashed into a cab at the intersection of Portage Avenue and Maryland Street -- while driving 138 kilometres an hour.

Antonio Lanzellotti died instantly, while a passenger suffered extensive injuries. Several occupants of the stolen truck were injured.

"He had to die sometime anyway," the girl told police upon hearing Lanzellotti was dead. "Wrong time, wrong place. It's not like it's a big deal anyways."

Police, stunned by her callous response, questioned her further about the impact and asked if she was kidding.

"I am goddamn f--king serious. I don't care that he's dead," she said, adding "people die every day."

One officer had to leave the interview room because he was too upset to continue speaking with the girl, Pats said.

Provincial court Judge Ron Meyers was also stunned, bringing the girl's sentencing hearing to a halt by ordering a psychiatric report and pre-sentence report. He also wanted to watch the girl's videotaped statement in its entirety.

"These statements are chilling, to say the least. It strikes me we have a person who has a serious problem," Meyers said.

Still, the judge agreed to release the girl on bail, noting she has already spent a month behind bars, which likely exceeds any sentence she will get for the crime of being in possession of stolen property. Even the Crown conceded more jail was not an option under the controversial Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The girl has been ordered to return home with her parents and six siblings in the North End under a 24-hour curfew.

In an interview outside the home Wednesday, the girl's mother said she believes her daughter was still in shock from the incident when she gave police her statement.

The teen suffered spine fractures and a punctured lung from the crash and was taken into custody just one day after the crash and then grilled for 10 hours, the mother said.

The enormity of the situation hadn't sunk in and the girl thought police were simply "trying to make her feel bad" by bringing up the slain cabbie during the interview.

"I believe it was shock. I don't believe it was that she really didn't care. She didn't know," the mother said.

The mother said she went through a gruelling two-week-long grieving process after the incident.

"As a parent, I think you start to feel that you did it, almost. I love my daughter -- at the same time I'm angry with her."

"I don't even blame the justice system for wanting to get tough with these kids."

The girl has no prior criminal record. The mother works as a guidance counsellor, while the father works with people affected by fetal alcohol syndrome.

"This has been a tremendous wake-up call for them," defence lawyer Crystal Antilla told court. Meyers wondered why they allowed their daughter to be out of the house at 3 a.m. on the night of the tragedy.

"Were they that lax?" he asked.

www.mikeoncrime.com james.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 1, 2008 $sourceSection$sourcePage