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West Kelowna  

Dog handler recounts chase

An RCMP dog handler, whose vehicle was rammed and shot at during a chase on Westside Road two years ago, took the stand Thursday in the attempted murder trial of Michael Edward Ellis.

The court heard from Cpl. Richard Gingras, who was travelling southbound on Westside Road from Vernon in an attempt to head off the suspect’s vehicle on July 31, 2012. Gingras had already heard over his radio that officers had been shot at, and was speeding down the road in an attempt to close the gap in case they tried to turn off onto a side road.

As he neared the lead vehicles, Gingras decided to turn around and begin slowly heading north, to ensure he would stay as a lead vehicle in the event he would need to release his dog Maco for any kind of foot pursuit.

“I was expecting (police) backup behind the truck,” said Gingras. “I turned around and waited for him to get close.”

He listened over the radio as reports flooded in that the suspects had car jacked several vehicles and were now traveling in a black pickup truck. He soon saw the vehicle in his side view mirror coming up fast, and Gingras blocked both lanes of traffic as the truck attempted to pass him.

All of his emergency equipment was deactivated, the court heard, as Gingras didn’t want the suspects to know he was police. This appeared to work, as he told the court that the driver of the black truck even waved at him at one point, in an attempt to get Gingras out of the way.

During this time Gingras was on the radio, letting other officers know the suspect was now behind him near La Casa Resort on Westside Road. As traffic began to increase, Gingras activated his emergency lights, and that’s when he says someone in the truck began shooting at him.

The officer told the court he saw the driver of the truck stick a rifle out the window, and the next thing he knew, his back window had been shot out.

“And I realized I was getting shot at,” Gringas told the court.

"I remember clearly seeing what looked like an assault rifle come out of the driver side window of the truck.”

Gingras hunched over the wheel and sped up, yelling at Maco to get down too. He immediately radioed in that he was under fire, and remembers at least one officer saying, “Hang on. We’re coming.”

It’s unclear how many times Gingras was fired upon, but he heard several shots, at least seven. And then the truck began to ram his unmarked SUV at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour.

There were two men in the truck, said Gingras. Both were Caucasian, but he could not recall their faces.

Another officer told him to get off the road, but Gingras believed that would make him a sitting duck if the men in the black truck decided to again open fire, so he continued heading north towards Vernon at high speed.

Gingras told the court he was “surprised” that no other police vehicles had caught up to the suspects by this time, and remarked “it felt good” when he finally saw another officer in his mirror.

Soon after he heard other officers were setting up a spike belt ahead, and recalls the passenger front tire blowing out on the black truck as it rolled over. Another spike strip shredded a tire on the driver’s side, but the truck continued rolling north on its rims and rammed him again.

The RCMP’s Emergency Response Team was also set up down the road, but were unable to stop the truck either.

“Well I hoped they were going to throw some rounds (at the truck),” said Gingras, who told the court he was again “disappointed” when the truck kept going.

“I expected the windshield to be gone or something.”

Gingras had attempted to organize a roadblock at the junction of Westside Road and Highway 97 near Vernon, but due to substandard radio communications it was inefficient and the truck continued on until it finally stopped near Swan Lake.

Three people, including Ellis were arrested at the scene.

He faces 22 charges including multiple charges of attempted murder.

The trial continues Friday.



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