A 24-year-old man who hit a Burnaby Mountie with his car during a traffic stop and then sped off – all while under house arrest for a North Vancouver sexual assault – will stay in jail for a while longer.
Jairus-Paul Covacha Sacramento was sentenced in Vancouver provincial court Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count each of dangerous driving and flight from police.
He had originally also been charged with assaulting a police officer with his car, but that charge was stayed at the end of the hearing.
The charges relate to an incident on Royal Oak Avenue near Deer Lake Parkway at about 3:35 p.m. on Feb. 11, according to agreed facts presented in court.
Police had set up a speed trap, and an officer tried to pull over Sacramento's Mercedes after he clocked him driving 121 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
The officer stepped onto the roadway and directed Sacramento to pull into the parking lot, according to the facts.
The vehicle slowed down but then made "a sort of last-minute maneuver" in the right lane where the side mirror made contact with the officer's forearm, according to Crown prosecutor Heather Burley, who read out the facts in court.
"The vehicle then drove over the curb and took off, accelerating at a high speed," Burley said.
The Mercedes was intercepted by police at Kensington Avenue and Canada Way a short time later, and Sacramento was arrested.
A police check then revealed he was under house arrest conditions at the time – and he was driving without valid insurance.
Sacramento had been handed a six-month conditional sentence with house arrest less than two months earlier after being found guilty of groping a woman on a popular North Vancouver trail in February 2022.
That conditional sentence order was terminated after his Feb. 11 arrest, and Sacramento has been in custody ever since.
Burley called for a 30-day jail sentence in the case along with a one-year driving ban.
She said Sacramento's criminal record, with the sexual assault conviction, and his driving record, with eight offences between 2018 and 2023, were aggravating factors in the case, as was the fact he was violating his house arrest at the time of the incident.
Although the officer wasn't hurt, the fact Sacramento's car hit him was also aggravating, according to Burley.
"The outcome could have been much worse," she said.
As factors in Sacramento's favour, Burley noted the guilty plea and the fact he had already suffered the consequences of being kept in jail after his conditional sentence was terminated.
Sacramento's lawyer, Eric Warren, called for a jail sentence in the range of 15 days.
"He certainly never meant to actually hit anybody, but he did try to get away," Warren said of his client.
In his comments to the court, Sacramento stressed he was eager to get out of jail and go back to work as a construction electrician.
"I'm an honest, hard-working man," he said. "I'm sorry about what I did. It's been so long now. I didn't know I'd be starting my year like this, but it's been a long time and I'm ready to get back to work."
At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Judge Gregory Rideout sentenced Sacramento to 21 days' jail and a one-year driving ban.
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