Court hears details of 7-day meth bender ending in high-speed chase, man lighting himself on fire

By the time Terrance Morin drove astolen GMC Envoy into a swampy field north of Saskatoon he'd already dumped and burned almost everything he could tear out of the red SUV.

A chainsaw, a power drill, car mats and a bicycle cable. A Blu-Ray player and a helmet. All burned in piles on the side of the road, the flames caught oninfrared camerain the Saskatoon police plane.

With the stolen auto mired in the muck and RCMP closing in fast, all that was left to ignite was the SUV. And himself.

So he did.

It happened in theearly hours of May 6, 2018 one year ago today.

The mayhem of meth

Morin testified later that he had been high on meth and up for seven days when Saskatoon Police ran the plates on the red Envoy duringa routine patrol on the city's west side on the previous night of May 5.

The plates were not registered so the officers turned on their emergency lights to pull him over. In seconds, the Envoy bolted and accelerated so quickly that the officersimmediately called off the ground pursuit.

The police plane was in the air that night. Over the next two-plus-hours, it tracked Morin's high-speed ramblings across the city and into the country. The video footage from the plane, and from in-car RCMP cameras, were played in a Saskatoon courtroom during sentencing submissions on April 16, 2019.

Police video shows Saskatoon pursuit ending with man lighting himself on fire

5 years ago

Duration 2:12

Footage from a Saskatoon pursuit from one year ago shows the suspect pouring gasoline and lighting himself on fire. Court heard how the man had been high on meth for seven days prior to the pursuit.

The 37-year-old had pleaded guilty in provincial court to a range of charges, including dangerous driving, causing damage by fire, possession of stolen property and assaulting a police officer.

To hear the real-time police narration of Morin's careening into oncoming heavy traffic is to appreciate how close he came to causing a catastrophic crash.

"This guy's going to kill somebody," an officer notes at one point.

Morin repeatedly veered into oncoming traffic on major roadways Diefenbaker Drive, Fairlight Drive, Confederation Drive, 22nd Street West forcing other drivers to evade the SUV.

Heconsistently acceleratedto speeds in excess of 100 km/h.

Heading out of town

Just before midnight, Morin headednorthwest of the city on Highway 16. At Range Road 3070, he stopped,took four 25-litre jerrycans from the SUV and litthem on fire.

Ten minutes later, he stoppedat Auction Road and madea pile with a chainsaw, power drill, lockbox and speaker, dousing them with gas and starting another fire.

Continuing northwest, he beganthrowing items from the SUV as his speed climbedto more than 200 km/hper hour. As he crestedthe hill at the Borden Bridge he spottedan RCMP roadblock with stop sticks and reversedback toward the city.

In the next 40 minutes, he avoidedthree attempts to flatten the SUV's tires. The plane followedhim as he meandereddown country roads and into farmyards.

He was looking for more gas.

Finally, around 1:40 a.m. CST, RCMP tracked him to a fuel tank in a farmyard where he wastrying to fill the cans. He rammedthe RCMP cruiser and tookoff again. The officers were jarred but not injuredand were able to continue the pursuit.

Morin drovethrough another farmyard and into a field, this time getting stuck in a swampy section. RCMP arrived in time to find him with a can of gas in one hand and a flaming cloth in the other.

"He's dousing gasoline on himself and he's threatening to burn himself up," says an officer on the audio.

"They've got a life and death situation here. I believe he's dumping gas on himself,maybe suicide by cop. They're going to need some help."

Moments later, Morin lithimself on fire.An officer had retrieved a fire extinguisher and was able to put out the flames.

Morin was arrested and taken into custody.It was later described that, thanks to the quick action by the officers, his injuries were no worse than "a bad sunburn."

Morin watched the episode in court and said he had no clear recollection of the events.

Sentencing in June

Prosecutor Barbara Herder argued for a custodial sentence of between five and six years, followed by a three-year driving prohibition.

Defence lawyer Jessie Buydens argued for a sentence 18 to 24 months.She said he should have 17 months subtracted from that total as a time-and-a-half credit for time spent incustody on remand.

Judge Brent Klause reserved his decision until June.