Man who drove into pandemic protesters under house arrest

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This article was published 31/01/2024 (624 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Headingley man who plowed his Jeep through a crowd of people at a protest over COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, sending one person to hospital, is under house arrest.

David Alexander Zegarac, 43, pleaded guilty in provincial court last June to two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm and one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm during a protest two years ago in front of the legislature over pandemic restrictions.

Provincial court Judge Donald Slough gave Zegarac two conditional sentence orders equating to just under two years of house arrest.

About 100 protesters and dozens of parked tractor-trailers, cars and pickup trucks were on a stretch of Broadway at Memorial Boulevard on Feb. 4, 2022 — the first day of the so-called “freedom convoy” protest — when Zegarac approached the gathering at about 9:50 p.m.

Crown prosecutor Melissa Hazelton, reading from an agreed statement of facts at the sentencing, said Zegarac had not meant to drive through the area — and had been actively avoiding it — but got turned around because of police road closures.

As he passed a controlled crosswalk, he changed lanes and accelerated rapidly, disregarding the pedestrians on the road, hitting one man and knocking him to the ground. The man had to be hospitalized with injuries to his arm and head.

Zegarac did not stop, and hit two more protesters, who weren’t hurt, and then hit a fourth man, who suffered chipped teeth and a bruised jaw.

Zegarac then sped from the area and was later arrested by RCMP and Winnipeg police in Headingley, where he refused to get out of the vehicle until a city officer used a Taser electric-shock device on him three times.

On route back to Winnipeg police headquarters, he accused police of being racist and said that the convoy was a “white supremacist” protest attended by white supremacists, Hazelton told court.

However, she said, it was agreed that Zegarac did not go out intending to attack the convoy crowd.

“It is accepted that Zegarac was experiencing mental-health issues at the time of this incident and that his actions were an anxiety-induced panic response — it was not a targeted attack,” she said.

Slough repeatedly emphasized that aspect of the facts during the hearing last August.

“This was not a targeted attack — and it has to be understood in that context, otherwise we would be in a very different situation,” said the judge, who noted that because Zegarac is a survivor of the ’60s Scoop there are historic and cultural factors to be considered.

Court heard that Zegarac had been on a mental-health medication at the time that he believes was causing intense emotional outbursts, but he had sought help from a psychologist, who he visited 36 times while on bail.

His curfew is subject to exceptions to allow him to run errands during a weekly window and attend counselling and other appointments, among other conditions.