A 19-year-old who broke conditions of his conditional sentence following a high-speed car chase during which he drove down the wrong lane of the Trans-Canada Highway will be returned to the care of the ministry rather than go to prison.
Tristan Olson was given a six-month conditional sentence earlier this year after pleading guilty to charges, including fleeing from police and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
He was given a six-month conditional sentence, including terms that he remain at home.
The incident, while Olson was on bail conditions, included leading police on a car chase.
It ended when he drove over an RCMP spike belt on Highway 5 North.
Olson fled, but was arrested hiding under a tarp.
Crown prosecutor Oliver Potestio said Olson was found by police as a passenger in a stolen vehicle and arrested by employees of a hardware store in Hope, in two different incidents during his conditional sentence.
He has been in custody since his latest arrest on April 13.
Provincial court judge Chris Cleaveley opted not to require Olson to serve the remainder of the six-month term in jail.
Instead, Olson will be released into the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
He is a ward of the state and will live under 24-hour monitoring by the ministry in a specially designated suite in Kamloops.
“If you breach, you’ll be in jail,” Cleaveley warned.
