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Rehabilitation recommended for man who flees police in Shuswap several times

Man pleads guilty, judge agrees to crown and defence submission on Vision Quest program
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Man sentenced to six months in Vision Quest program after pleading guilty to charges of fleeing police and driving while prohibited. (Martha Wickett - Salmon Arm Observer)

The sentence for a man who pleaded guilty in Salmon Arm court to fleeing from police on two occasions and driving while prohibited included six months with Vision Quest Recovery Society.

David Sean Nagel, 26, pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2022 to one count related to an incident in Salmon Arm and two counts stemming from another in Sicamous.

On Oct. 2, 2021, about 8:45 a.m., a police officer spotted a green Cadillac sedan parked on 60th Street in Salmon Arm with two men “passed out” inside, Crown counsel told the court.

The licence plate was not registered to a vehicle and Sicamous RCMP advised Salmon Arm police the vehicle had fled from them. A Salmon Arm officer recognized Nagel as the driver from teardrop tattoos under his eye.

Before attempting to wake up the men, police put a spike belt in front of the vehicle. When police tried to speak to the driver, he drove off. His flight ended about 500 metres away due to damage from the spike belt.

The Sicamous incident took place on Nov. 6, 2021 about 2:15 p.m. when a police officer was observing traffic at the intersection of Main and Shuswap streets.

When the officer saw a grey Mazda3 pull up to a stop sign, they immediately recognized Nagel, the court heard.

The vehicle had no licence plate and Nagel pulled a mask over his face. The officer activated the police vehicle’s emergency equipment, but the Mazda took off down Highway 97A. Police called off the chase when the vehicle began driving down the wrong side of the road.

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During the sentencing hearing, Crown counsel referred to Nagel’s prior convictions which included flight from a peace officer in 2019 along with breaches of conditions imposed.

In 2021 he faced drug offences including trafficking. He also had several ‘no driver’s licence’ tickets as well as fines for driving while prohibited in March 2021.

Both Crown and defence counsel said they had had numerous conversations while coming up with a joint submission.

Nagel had been in prison since Dec. 8, 2021.

With time served prior to sentencing calculated at time-and-a-half, he had 81 days to his credit. Defence lawyer Ian McTavish said the sentence they came up with is intended to include deterrents as well as rehabilitative elements.

He noted that Nagel is relatively young, has a three-year-old boy from a separated parent, does not have a job and wants to go to Kwantlen College when he’s out of Vision Quest.

Judge George Leven accepted the joint submission and ruled that in addition to time served in custody, Nagel’s sentence would include attending the Vision Quest program near Logan Lake for six months, following all rules such as no drugs or alcohol and abiding by the curfew, 18 months’ probation with conditions, a three-year driving prohibition, and providing a sample for the DNA registry.



martha.wickett@saobserver.net
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Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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