Petrolia man gets 4.5 years in prison for ramming OPP cruiser

A Petrolia-area man now has been sentenced to nearly a decade in prison following two high-profile Lambton OPP probes.

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Cody Price, 35, was first handed has five-year prison sentence about a year ago for a $500,000 commercial-level string of thefts across Lambton County in early 2022. Then on Tuesday, Price was given another 4 1/2 years for intentionally ramming a Lambton OPP cruiser with a stolen pickup truck while fleeing police in late 2022.

“His driving created a risk to himself, to the responding officers on that day, and any others on the community roads that day,” Justice Marnie Vickerd said Tuesday while giving her decision. “His actions had a significant impact on the individuals in our community, local business, and police.”

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ESCAPING THE OPP’S CLUTCHES

The incident with the cruiser started in a wooded area near a field on Dec. 30, 2022 around 9:30 am Two officers standing on a trail pointed rifles at Price as he drove a white Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup truck toward them.

Police later learned the pickup had been stolen from OWS Railroad Construction and Maintenance Ltd.

Several other officers arrived to contain the area and they tried to pin the pickup, but Price reversed into one of their cruisers, causing significant damage to the front end. He later drove over a police spike belt and continued driving on the rims after the tires were deflated.

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Price then switched to a second pickup, a 2015 Ford Super Duty, he stole from a nearby farm and successfully fled from police.

WANTED MAN

Soon after the chase, Lambton OPP issued a wanted poster featuring a photo and description of Price, then 33, and the list of charges he was facing including flight from police, assaulting a police officer with a weapon, dangerous driving, theft of multiple vehicles , breaking and entering, and breaching lease. Price turned himself in on Jan. 8, 2023.

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CRUISER CRASH TRIAL

A three-day trial was held in Sarnia in July featuring the testimony of six OPP officers and a friend of Price along with photos of the damaged cruiser and pickup trucks. Vickerd returned in October with her decision, where she found Price guilty of all the remaining charges. The Crown previously had dropped one of the charges.

Price couldn’t be clearly identified on video surveillance at either location where the pickups were taken and no forensic evidence was found in either vehicle, on him or at his house. But one of the officers testified he recognized Price as he had dealt with him multiple times in the past.

Defense lawyer Ken Marley argued the officer’s description wasn’t detailed enough and his pre-existing relationship with his client wasn’t a good one, which may have colored the investigation and caused tunnel vision, the judge recalled. The officer also could have been mistaken as he was in an emotionally charged situation by pointing a rifle.

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But Vickerd concluded the issues Marley raised weren’t persuasive and didn’t raise reasonable doubt about the officer’s recognition evidence. She also rejected the alibi evidence from Price’s friend.

TWO TAKES ON APPROPRIATE SENTENCE

During a recent sentencing hearing, assistant Crown attorney Michael Donald asked for five years in prison. Marley suggested between 2 1/2 and three years, arguing five more years would be crushing on top of Price’s previous five-year sentence.

Vickerd returned Tuesday with her decision: 53 months, or just shy of 4 1/2 years.

‘WILLINGNESS TO DISREGARD AUTHORITY’ WEIGHS HEAVILY

Price’s criminal record, a four-page document featuring 51 convictions – many for similar offenses – was a key factor in the four-plus-year sentence the judge went with.

“Prior record confirms a pattern to Mr. Price’s criminal behavior and a willingness to disregard authority and the rights of others,” Vickerd said. “It also shows a willingness to place others at risk when it suits his needs.”

A pre-sentence report pointed to drugs as a major issue. Price had a good upbringing and a good-paying job, but his thrill-seeking personality led to a life of drug use, gambling, and reckless conduct, the document said.

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Price, who has gone to rehab in the past, told Vickerd his addiction brought him to a dark place, but he’s taking steps to manage it while in prison.

“Mr. Price, I wish you all the best,” she told him.

$500K THEFT CASE

Price originally was facing 34 charges linked to the months-long Lambton OPP probe from early 2022. He pleaded not guilty to all of them. Following a three-day trial in May and June 2023, Justice Mark Poland returned in September 2023 with 20 guilty verdicts – a few were previously conceded by the defense – and 10 not guilty findings. Six were dropped by the Crown during the trial.

‘PALPABLE’ FRUSTRATION AMONG RURAL PROPERTY OWNERS

Ofring the trial, about 10 property owners, tenants and employees testified about a variety of expensive equipment and goods missing from mostly rural Lambton County locations. They included the Mammoet branch in Sarnia, the former Lambton Ford dealership, Parkland Farms, and a fifth-generation farm near Alvinston.

Some of the missing machinery, including pickup trucks, trailers, snowmobiles, toolboxes and diesel fuel tanks, was found after Price was arrested on an isolated property near Brigden on March 1, 2022.

The recovered stolen property was worth more than $500,000, Lambton OPP said, although one of the people called to testify said the snowmobile taken from his farm had huge sentimental value.

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The owner of Parkland Farms wrote in a letter read by Poland he’s concerned about a potentially volatile situation erupting as rural property owners try to protect their high-priced equipment.

“People in this community are sick and tired of people like Mr. Price coming onto their property, breaking into their residences and their businesses and stealing from them and depriving them of property they’ve worked very hard to earn and to purchase,” Poland said. “That sense of frustration, in my view, in this community is palpable.”

FACING UP TO A DECADE

Assistant Crown attorney David Nicol had asked for eight to 10 years in that case while Marley pushed for house arrest on top of the one year his client already spent in pre-trial custody.

Poland, who described Price’s prior criminal record at that point as abysmal, initially was going to hand down a sentence of six years and four months before cutting it down to five.

TIME SERVED SHAVED OFF

Price had four years left to serve as of last year after getting a one-year credit. As of Tuesday, he had about four years left to serve on his new sentence after getting credit for time spent in custody from January 2023 to April 2023.

Price initially was released in late April 2023 on a $40,000 lease plan but he’s been back in jail since he was found guilty in the $500,000 theft case.

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@ObserverTerry

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