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November 26, 2015 - 1:09 PM
KAMLOOPS - A local man says he was going through a ‘very traumatic year’ before he went on a bizarre crime spree which involved playing chicken with fellow drivers and setting a man’s truck on fire.
Kamloops Provincial Court Judge Chris Cleaveley sentenced David Kevin Moen, 46, to roughly four months in jail after he pleaded guilty today, Nov. 26 to dangerous driving, arson, uttering threats and being unlawfully in a dwelling.
On Oct. 27, around 5 p.m. Moen was reported by several drivers after he was purposefully blocking traffic on Shuswap Road near the LaFarge cement plant.
Crown prosecutor Mike Wong said the first call to police was about Moen revving his engine and blocking people from crossing the bridge.
“He wouldn’t hit anybody, just race up to them,” Wong said.
At one point, fellow drivers approached Moen to see if he needed help, but he responded “go away you can’t help me; it’s too late,” Wong said.
Police came to the scene, but by the time they arrived, Moen had already re-located to a home on Shuswap Road. Wong said Moen entered the house and told the man who lived there he ‘you have a crazy person on your hands’ before running back outdoors and lighting the man's pickup truck on fire.
“As police arrived, (they) observed the victim hunched over. He was scurrying around trying to douse various items on fire,” Wong said.
Wong said Moen approached officers and was taken down by a K9 dog before his arrest. On the way to the detachment, Wong said Moen was mumbling incoherently and claimed he planted a bomb in the truck.
“He appeared to be in some sort of medical distress. He was subsequently discharged from the hospital after receiving some stitches,” Wong said. "It appears that he took an eight-ball of meth and had been drinking. He had taken the meth in hopes that it would kill him."
Both Wong and Moen’s lawyer, Jay Michi, asked Cleaveley to sentence Moen to 120 days in jail since he had no criminal offence before the incident.
Michi said Moen was a recovering alcoholic dealing with several stressors in his life before the incident.
“He essentially cracked and had what he describes as a nervous breakdown,” Michi said. “He is focussed on treatment. He recognizes that’s going to have to be the first step."
Cleaveley was satisfied with the proposed sentence put forward by the Crown and defence.
“The circumstances are truly bizarre, but they’re very serious,” he said.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015