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durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, June 2, 2022 | 2 A stolen Durham police cruiser was being driven at a speed of 190 km/h when it slammed into a car occupied by a woman and her grandson, court heard during a sentencing hearing Friday, May 27. Jesse Johnson displayed no regard for the safety of others as he sped along city streets from Oshawa to Whitby during the incident on March 7, 2021, prosecutor Lori Anne Turner told the court. "He showed absolutely no consideration to the members of the public," Turner said. "In many ways, that vehicle became a weapon." Ontario Court judge Cynthia Johnston sentenced Johnson to five years in penitentiary at the conclusion of the hearing. Johnson, 30 at the time of the incident, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm as well as vehicle theft and flight from police. "It is truly remarkable that no one died in this collision," the judge commented. The incident began when an employee at an Oshawa storage facility called police to report a suspicious person on the property, court heard. As officers began their investigation, they saw one of the cruisers they'd arrived in speeding away from the scene. Johnson tore west toward Whitby, at one point driving the wrong way down King Street in Oshawa, Turner said. At the intersection of Dundas and Garden streets in Whitby, the stolen cruiser slammed into a car carrying a woman and her 12- year-old grandson. The impact destroyed both vehicles and sent the engine from the victims' car flying toward a gas station, Turner said. The woman and her grandson had to be extricated by firefighters. Both sustained serious injuries, including a broken leg to the boy and multiple broken bones for the woman, court heard. After Johnson was pulled from the cruiser, it burst into flames, causing yet another hazard, said Turner: "The ammunition that was inside that cruiser began going off," she told the court. In a victim impact statement, the woman whose car was struck said that she continues to be affected by the crash and the severe injuries she suffered. She said she spent six weeks in hospital and then required help with even the most basic chores around her home. "Although my bones have healed, I still feel the after-effects of those injuries daily," she said. "Mr. Johnson's recklessness and disregard for others has had a profound effect on my life in many ways." Speaking from the prisoner's dock, a subdued Johnson apologized to the victims and the police, and said the incident has caused him to seek a new path, eschewing years of addiction and criminality. "This has left me a changed man," he said. "I've suffered with this addiction problem roughly since I was 18. Anything good or positive in my life was pushed aside," he added. In addition to his penitentiary sentence, Johnson is prohibited from driving for eight years following the conclusion of his sentence. He was given credit for the equivalent of roughly a year and a half of pretrial custody, leaving him three years and five months to serve in prison. MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS FOR CRASHING STOLEN CRUISER JEFF MITCHELL jmitchell@ durhamregion.com NEWS MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS FOR CRASH INVOLVING STOLEN DURHAM POLICE CRUISER The province's police watchdog is investigating a spectacular Sunday evening (March 7) crash that left a stolen police cruiser in flames. Colin WIlliamson photo