The crime:

Police have caught three teens who they accuse of playing what Safioles called "some kind of sick game" where they tried to clip the runners with the car's mirrors.

Oh, and the car was stolen. Another example how the YCJA has failed the kid who was the ringleader, and failed society.

The 16-year-old driver is considered a Level 4 offender -- the highest rating under the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy. He has done jail time at the Manitoba Youth Centre and was on probation for auto theft offences, but had been missing for at least two weeks before his arrest Monday.

In Manitoba, you don't need to be a genius to find a young offender, who is a renowned car thief and should be charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter (link).

Police say in the early morning hours on Sunday, one of the 16 year olds allegedly stole a Jeep Cherokee in the Island Lakes area, dumped it and stole another vehicle.

He later allegedly stole a third vehicle, then police observed two cars speeding. They pursued the vehicles until a crash with a light standard near Nairn Avenue and Watt Street.

Because of the YCJA, the courts no longer have any control over out of control kids, and the general public knows it.

"It's good news that they've been arrested but I'm not sure the justice system will do anything to keep these kids off the streets," said Dennis Pickerl, who found one of the injured runners bleeding and staggering on Thursday. "The one fellow is already as prolific a car thief as they come and they still can't keep him behind bars. I'm not sure the police have all the tools they need."

Even the cops are sick and tired of the catch-and-release treatment, and have given up.

Three teenage boys face numerous charges in connection with a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent. The most serious charges laid are driving dangerously causing bodily harm.

Police said Tuesday that charges of attempted murder weren't laid because it was "pretty clear" that the suspects were not trying to kill the victims.

"It looks more like it was some sort of sick game where you might just want to hit them with the mirrors," Sgt. Doug Safioles said.

One jogger states the obvious.

Leilani Kagan, who was among several other joggers who dodged the stolen car, said she can't understand why more serious charges weren't laid.

"People are vulnerable in that they've got no weapons. They've got no form of defense. You've got them cornered between two high snow banks on a road and you're driving a vehicle toward them," she said.

"I find that hard to believe, that by doing that four times to us, and to all the other people out there that morning, that you weren't trying to kill them. I don't know what else could really result."

And the great news from Manitoba Justice is that this isn't over yet!

"Having it down to five kids is pretty significant in some ways," said Carolyn Brock, executive director of youth corrections for Manitoba Justice.

Brock said there are times when as many as a dozen such thieves are on the run.

And so the escalation continues. The kids steal more cars, and do more dangerous things with them. Meanwhile, the police and courts punish them less, and sometimes not at all.

It fails the kids most of all, which is sad because it creates more victims in the future. These kids don't understand how to function normally or productively in a civilized society. The courts do nothing to help them change.

The kid has committed a very serious crime here, and is old enough to do hard jail time. Because it will keep him from steal our cars for one, but it will also give him a good hard look at where a life of crime will get him.

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In a somewhat related note, this is more of a question for people out there. Wellington Crescent, where this mayhem took place, has a sidewalk between the split-lanes. And it's very wide. But for some reason all the folks who run there seem to need to run on the road, and the dog-walkers are the only ones who use the sidewalk. Why in the hell is that?

I just want to know why they insist on running on the road. Why don't the joggers on Wellington run on the sidewalk?! I drive that road every damn day, and the street always has joggers on it, and I need to know why!

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime