Man gets jail for truck theft

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on May 29, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Colin Alexander Meissner admitted taking his brother’s truck without his permission during the early morning hours of June 22, 2023. But he didn’t say anything about crashing it into a house around the same time.
The man pleaded guilty last week in Lethbridge court of justice to a charge of motor vehicle theft, and was sentenced to four months in jail. Additional charges of dangerous driving, flight from a peace officer, failure to stop after an accident and driving while prohibited were withdrawn.
At about 1 a.m. a Taber police officer saw a pickup truck speeding and noticed the tail lights were off. The officer activated its emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop, but the truck sped away and the officer did not pursue.
About 30 minutes later he saw the truck again, got the licence plate number, and attempted another stop, but the vehicle sped away again.
After another 30 minutes police received a call from a woman who said a truck had driven onto her lawn and crashed into her house. A neighbour who heard the crash saw a man get out of the truck and climb into a car before it quickly drove away. The neighbour took a video but it was not clear enough to identify the driver of the truck.
The officer contacted the registered owner of the truck, who said his brother had called him earlier in the evening and told him he had taken the vehicle. A couple of days later Meissner turned himself in to the Taber Police Service, and admitted to at least part of the offence.
“He indicated that he had taken his brother’s truck earlier that evening, and provided a statement to that effect; that he had taken the truck, that he didn’t have permission from his brother,” said Crown Prosecutor Robert Morrison. “But he didn’t make any admissions with respect to the crash…merely that he had taken it earlier and had been driving it and was in possession of it.”
Morrison noted Meissner has a criminal record that includes convictions for dangerous driving and flight from police, for which he received jail sentences. He was scheduled to stand trial in
Taber on the recent charges but it was brought forward to resolve.
Although Meissner was given full credit for time already spent in pre-trial custody, which completes his sentence, he remains in custody on an unrelated matter, his lawyer told the judge.

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