Jailed after dangerous chase

A prolific offender who led police on a dangerous pursuit around a North Kamloops residential neighbourhood has been ordered to spend more than a year in prison.

Mark Aaron Schulz, 37, pleaded guilty Thursday in Kamloops provincial court to a string of charges including one count of dangerous driving and two counts of driving while prohibited.

Court heard a Mountie was patrolling the North Shore on April 9 when he spotted Schulz, who is well known to police and known to be a prohibited driver, behind the wheel of a pickup truck. The constable, who was in an unmarked RCMP vehicle, said his Schulz cut him off on Eighth Street.

The ensuing pursuit saw Schulz run a number of stop signs and at least one red light — at the busy intersection of Fortune Drive and Eighth Street. Schulz looped through residential streets and alleys at dangerous speeds, at one point coming close to hitting a police vehicle.

“This is dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in a residential area on the North Shore in the middle of the day — through stop signs, through red lights,” Crown prosecutor Oliver Potestio said.

"It’s quite fortunate there wasn’t a collision.”

Found hiding in shed

The other charges to which Schulz pleaded guilty on Thursday stem from two unrelated incidents — a traffic stop in March in which Schulz and his passenger were caught swapping seats and a missed court date in August.

He was the subject last month of a wanted bulletin from Kamloops Mounties, issued in relation to that missed court date.

Potestio said Schulz was only arrested on Sept. 26, when police had to break down the door of his Jasper Avenue home. He was eventually found hiding in a garden shed.

Defence lawyer Dan McNamee said Schulz struggles with addictions issues and was reluctant to turn himself in to police given a serious eye injury he suffered during an arrest in 2022.

In that case, court previously heard Schulz was kicked in the face by a constable after he was caught driving while prohibited. He later filed an excessive force lawsuit, which is still before the courts.

McNamee said last week's arrest on Jasper Avenue was a traumatic incident for Schulz's partner and her young children.

13.5-month sentence

McNamee said Schulz wants to turn his life around.

“He doesn’t want to be running from police, being chased by police,” he said. "His intention is to be employed. I would submit there is some hope for Mr. Schulz.”

Schulz himself was apologetic in court.

“I’m just sorry for the dangerous driving — I never meant to put people at risk,” he said.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Lorianna Bennett went along with a joint submission for a 405-day jail sentence, minus a little more than a month for time served.

Schulz was also ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and issued a three-year driving prohibition.