Jon Michael Aronson
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
May 19, 2021 - 1:43 PM
A Kelowna criminal who gained notoriety with two high-profile arrests was sentenced this week to three years and four months in prison for his latest crime spree.
For failing to stop and dangerous driving John Michael Aronson will serve another 364 days and for driving while prohibited and breach of probation Judge Clarke Burnett tacked on one more day.
“All sentences to be served concurrently,” a representative from the B.C. Prosecution Service said.
“He received credit for 842 days in custody pre-sentence, before receiving credit the sentence would have been 1,206 days. He was also ordered to serve two years on probation and is prohibited from driving for 10 years.”
These charges relate to a Sept. 23, 2019 crime spree when the now 33-year-old was released from prison on similar charges, swore to a provincial court judge he was a changed man and then decided, despite being prohibited from driving, to go on another illegal ride with only hours of freedom under his belt. When he caught the attention of RCMP he sped erratically down Highway 97 and crashed his car, shutting down the roadway for hours.
He didn’t walk away unscathed. Rather, Aronson suffered a fractured skull, broke his arm, shoulder, femur, pelvis, knee and ankle.
Remarkably, nobody else was physically injured. The driver of a Dodge truck he crashed into suffered no physical injuries, but was psychologically scarred and could not return to work for a year.
The sentence is close to the four years Crown counsel Dave Ruse had argued was necessary
“Simply put, while he’s in jail he’s not going to kill someone,” Ruse said Wednesday, May 5, asking judge Clarke Burnett to sentence Aronson, 33, to four years in prison.
Aronson, who according to the court record also goes by the alias Johnny Blaze, has not been deterred by earlier restrictions or sentences.
Aronson has criminal conviction report that's six pages long and spans 17 years.
This is the fifth time he’s shown that prior sanctions imposed by the court have had no effect and Ruse said, the “best predictor of human behaviour in the future is behaviour in the past.”
In January 2019 he was shot by RCMP Emergency Response Team members and taken down by police dogs in the aftermath of a road rage incident and another chase. He was seriously injured and confined to a wheelchair for that.
On sentencing for that crime, Aronson swore he was a changed man.
“Almost dying was an eye-opener for me,” Aronson said in court Sept. 23, 2019 as he was sentenced to time-served to charges including flight from police and dangerous driving.
“I want to be there for my children. I’ve got a different focus on my life. I’m sorry (for) what I did. You won’t see me back here again.”
It will be less than a year until the community learns whether he changed his ways this time.
Find past stories on John Michael Aronson here.
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