A man who ran over a Victoria police officer with a stolen car outside Our Place last September has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and assaulting a police officer with a weapon.
Chance Kenton Nichol, 29, also pleaded guilty to mischief for smashing the windows of two downtown businesses on Sept. 26, 2021.
The admissions of fact, read into the court record by Crown prosecutor Patrick Weir, reveal that Nichol was homeless, wanted to be arrested and carried out an increasing level of criminal activity until he ended up in jail.
The spree began around 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 when Nichol used rocks to smash the windows of an office building on Douglas Street and another on Broughton Street. Witnesses called 911, but fire and police were already on the way because the motion-sensor fire alarm had been triggered when Nichol entered the building, the admissions say.
Police didn’t find anyone and called off the search. At 4:37 p.m., the building manager found Nichol asleep in a room on the first floor that had been locked from the inside. Police arrested Nichol and drove him to the parking lot of McDonald’s on Pandora Avenue, where he said he lived.
When Nichol learned he would be released, he insisted the officers were obliged to take him to jail because he was homeless. They explained they were obliged to release him.
Nichol wanted to be taken to hospital, but because he didn’t appear to have any medical issues, the officers simply gave him directions to Royal Jubilee Hospital. They watched him throw away his release documents and go inside McDonald’s.
At 9:10 p.m., police were called to McDonald’s because Nichol was refusing to leave. An officer escorted him out of the restaurant. But he demanded to be arrested and banged his fists on the police car. Nichol asked to go to the Victoria Sobering Centre. The officer dropped him off, but he was not admitted.
Around 12:30 a.m., Nichol was taken by ambulance to the hospital, complaining of heroin withdrawal. He was discharged at 7:30 a.m. because he would not co-operate with treatment. Nichol took a bus to Oak Bay and found some car keys in the 1300-block of Beach Drive that he was able to match to a 2008 Cobalt parked nearby, the admissions say.
Nichol stole the car and ended up on Pandora Avenue, where police were assisting bylaw enforcement officers. He stopped behind a marked police vehicle. Const. Todd Mason, a 12-year-veteran, stood by the driver’s side window of the police vehicle talking to two officers.
Nichol pressed the accelerator and drove toward the police vehicle. Mason tried to jump out of the way but was hit. The officer hit the hood, front windshield and roof of the Cobalt and was propelled 15 feet in the air before striking the pavement. The car hit a garbage dumpster and came to a stop with one tire on Mason’s ankle.
Nichol was arrested at gunpoint. Mason has not returned to work, the admissions say.
Provincial court Judge Robert Higinbotham ordered a presentence report with a psychological component to assist at sentencing. Nichol is expected to set a date for his sentencing in mid-June.
