A man who ran down a Waterloo Regional Police officer with his car after shoplifting items from a grocery store was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison.
Jeffrey Woodman, 29, was found guilty last November of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, aggravated assault of a police officer and other offences.
It all stemmed from an incident in September 2013, when police were called to a grocery store on Weber Street in Kitchener.
Court heard that Woodman and two other men had attempted to shoplift cheese products, chocolate milk and lighters by hiding the goods in their pants, then driven away from the store.
A high-speed police chase ensued, but was quickly called off for public safety reasons.
About 10 minutes later, Sgt. Eugene Fenton spotted Woodman’s vehicle on nearby Sheldon Avenue.
He approached the vehicle with his weapon drawn, fired it four times and shouted for Woodman to stop.
Instead, the vehicle hit Fenton, causing him to suffer multiple broken bones.
“What his behaviour that night says is that he is a danger to society,” Crown prosecutor Andrew Rajna said.
The Crown had asked for an eight-year prison sentence.
In delivering the six-year sentence, Justice Gerald Taylor called Woodman a “career criminal” who was unlikely to be rehabilitated.
Defence lawyer Hal Mattson said he agreed a prison sentence made sense for Woodman, but didn’t view his client’s criminal record, with 18 convictions, as harshly as the judge dig.
“I would’ve looked at that record and said he was basically a petty criminal,” Mattson said outside court.
With credit for time served, Woodman has four years and eight months of his sentence remaining.
