Overpass stone-slinger sidesteps jail time

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This article was published 22/07/2015 (3737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man has admitted to dropping large rocks off a busy Portage Avenue overpass — hitting three vehicles below in what could have been a deadly disaster.

“This is just completely reckless behaviour,” Crown attorney Boyd McGill told court Wednesday.

Dylan Anderson, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of mischief for the August 2013 incident at Empress Street near Polo Park. The vehicles struck sustained more than $5,000 total damage, but none of the occupants was injured.

“There are plenty of stories from other jurisdictions where this type of behaviour has led to people dying,” said McGill.

Anderson had no prior criminal record at the time and was dealing with plenty of anger issues while hanging out with what his lawyer said was a group of peers who were bad influences on him.

“He made an incredibly stupid decision. He knows that now. He’s ashamed by it,” said defence lawyer Daniel Wolson.

Crown and defence lawyers made a joint-recommendation for Anderson to be given a one-year suspended sentence with probation. He must also pay the insurance premiums of the victims.

“I’m extremely sorry for what I did. I should have known better,” Anderson said Wednesday. It was just before 7 p.m. on a weekday evening when he struck the vehicles.

“You could have shattered the windows and blinded the person, causing a car crash. People driving down Portage Avenue, or anywhere, have a right to be safe,” said provincial court Judge Dale Harvey.

There have been a handful of similar incidents in the province in recent years.

Last August, a Winnipeg woman had a rock slam into her windshield as she drove down Chief Peguis Trail under the pedestrian bridge at Gateway Road. It left a large dent, and plenty of frayed nerves.

“Someone is going to get killed,” Darlene Korzinski told the Free Press at the time. The culprits ran away, and no arrests were ever made.

In June 2014, police charged a trio of 13-year-old boys for throwing rocks off a Pembina Highway overpass. Four cars travelling underneath on Bishop Grandin Boulevard were struck. There were no injuries, but the vehicles sustained more than $1,500 damage. Their case remains before the courts.

Anderson isn’t out of the legal woods just yet, despite his guilty plea and sentencing on Wednesday. He is still pending on another unrelated incident that happened under the same bridge from where the rocks were dropped.

Anderson, and four co-accused, were charged in July 2014 with terrorizing three teenagers who crossed their paths. The victims were assaulted and robbed of money after they stopped to take pictures of nearby Omands’s Creek following an afternoon of shopping at the mall.

One of the accused was wearing what police described at the time as a “scary clown mask.” Another referred to himself as “the slicer” or “the slitter.”

Charges including robbery and forcible confinement remain before the courts. Anderson is presumed innocent.

www.mikeoncrime.com