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Another year in jail for man who tried to mow down officers in car

By: Aldo Santin

Posted: 03/14/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

A man who tried to use his car to run down several Winnipeg police officers at a traffic stop will spend 12 more months in jail.

Luke Pawel Sanocki, 34, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from a November 2011 confrontation that was described to the court as harrowing and potentially lethal.

Sanocki was driving a Dodge Charger early in the morning when Winnipeg police pulled it over at Marion Street and St. Mary's Road, looking for a suspect in firearm-related offences, who was a passenger in the car.

Instead of complying with the officers' instruction to get out of the car, Sanocki put the car into reverse and sped off, clipping one of the officers in the leg and banging a cruiser car.

Sanocki soon lost control of his speeding car, mounting the sidewalk and hitting a hydro pole at the intersection of St. Mary's and Traverse Street.

When police tried to box in Sanocki's car with three police vehicles, Sanocki again slammed his car into reverse, striking a police SUV, disabling both vehicles.

Sanocki and one of the passengers then took off on foot. A police dog was used to catch Sanocki, while the police helicopter, Air1, tracked down the other suspect.

The officer Sanocki clipped was not seriously injured.

Sanocki spent the following 16 months in jail; six months in segregation at the Headingley Correctional Centre and the past 10 months at the Brandon Correctional Centre.

While at the Brandon CC, Sanocki became a suspect when he found his cellmate, high-ranking Rock Machine member JP Beaumont, dead in his bunk one morning in October.

Police initially believed Beaumont had been killed with a handmade knife but officials ruled last month his death was not criminal, without releasing the cause of death.

Sanocki spent another month in segregation while police investigated Beaumont's death.

Defence lawyer Barry Sinder said the past 16 months Sanocki had spent in jail had a dramatic effect on him and resulted in him giving up his criminal lifestyle.

Sanocki had just been released from jail on a robbery sentence when he was caught by police in November 2011, and he was still on a two-year suspended sentence he had been given earlier in 2011 for charges of theft under $5,000 and fraud under $5,000 and other offences.

Sanocki apologized to the court for his actions, adding he never wanted to repeat what he'd been through since his arrest.

"I realized what I was doing," Sanocki said. "Sixteen months was like a lifetime for me. I'm ready to get on with my life and do positive things."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 14, 2013 A6

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