EDMONTON - A judge says new rules aren't needed after a high-speed pursuit that ended in the deaths of a mother and her three children because Mounties have already stopped chasing stolen cars.
Provincial court Judge G. William Paul noted in a fatality inquiry report released Monday that officers followed the rules in place at the time when they chased Raymond Yellowknee on a highway near Slave Lake in January 2006.
He said the pursuing officer backed away just before Yellowknee's stolen truck crossed the centre line to slam head-on into a Pontiac Sunfire driven by Misty Chalifoux.
The high-impact crash immediately killed Chalifoux, 28; stepdaughter Michelle Lisk, 13, and daughter Trista Chalifoux, 9. Six-year-old daughter Larissa Chalifoux was airlifted to hospital in Edmonton but died the next day of severe head trauma.
Paul said policy at that time gave officers discretion to chase a vehicle based on factors that included road conditions, the amount of traffic, speed and the nature of the alleged crime.
He said Const. Jeff Schneider had been chasing Yellowknee for only 17 seconds at 150 km/h when the officer saw Yellowknee's truck start to fishtail across the highway as he tried to make a hard left up a slight hill. Schneider backed off, but could only watch as the white truck drifted across the centre line and into the Sunfire.
"These factors viewed as a whole confirm that Const. Schneider properly followed RCMP policy in this short and tragic event," wrote Paul.
But that policy is no longer in place. The Alberta RCMP's manual was changed in 2008 to prohibit high-speed pursuits of stolen cars. That became a national rule a year later.
"The revised policy recognizes that these ... offences are not of sufficient gravity to justify a pursuit and the imposition of the inherent risk of such pursuits upon the public and police," wrote Paul.
The new approach reflects concerns expressed by Misty Chalifoux's father, Frank Carifelle, and his wife, Muriel, at the inquiry held last November in Slave Lake, 250 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
"Both Mr. and Mrs. Carifelle questioned the wisdom of a pursuit of a stolen vehicle on a busy highway entering into a region of hills, and suggested that no stolen vehicle was worth the risk to lawful users of the highway," wrote Paul.
The Carifelles could not be reached for comment.
Insp. James Stiles, RCMP operations officer for traffic services in Alberta, said the policy gives officers a little leeway in extreme situations but said the rule is otherwise ironclad.
"If it's a stolen vehicle that also has an occupant that has committed other crimes that are pursuable, then we'll still do a risk assessment (and perhaps chase)," said Stiles.
"But if it's purely a stolen vehicle and there are no other factors to consider we don't engage in pursuit. And the reason is that for a stolen vehicle the risk (to the public) is just not worth it."
He said officers don't conduct high-speed chases for provincial violations such as speeding either.
The force is still assessing whether the changes are leading to more people running from police because they know they won't be chased.
Stiles admitted it's difficult for officers on the front lines. "We hire and train people to detect criminal offenders and bring them to justice. It's very counter-intuitive when you pull over a vehicle and they run from you (and you can't pursue)."
The trial of Yellowknee made national headlines. He pleaded guilty in 2006 to 18 charges, including four counts of dangerous driving causing death, and was jailed for 16 years as a long-term offender.
It was his fourth drinking and driving episode. The Crown prosecutor tried, and failed, to get him locked up indefinitely as a dangerous offender. It would have been the first time a chronic drunk driver was so designated in Canada.
Court heard Yellowknee had racked up 71 offences in his short life. He began drinking by age 13 and was in rehab by 15. He killed himself in his cell in the Edmonton Institution on in August 2009. He was 37.
Court heard he was drunk and had been recently released from jail on Jan. 20, 2006 in Slave Lake. He was trying to hitch a ride when he noticed Lawrence Mitchell left his pickup truck running outside the office of Frontier Fuel Distributors.
Yellowknee got in the truck and drove off at normal speed.
Mitchell said he borrowed a colleague's truck and followed. He called in the theft to the RCMP and reported that the truck began speeding up and weaving when it hit the highway. Court would later hear Yellowknee was three times over the legal alcohol limit.
It was 5:30 p.m. and night was falling. The roads were dry but snow was piled up on the shoulders. Schneider, driving at 170 km/h, caught up to Yellowknee and fell in behind him.
He reported Yellowknee pulled onto a roadside turnout as if to stop, then picked up speed again. Schneider radioed in that he was going to pursue. Seconds later, it was over.
