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Three-year sentence for man who led police on volatile manhunt

RCMP vehicle

A Yellowknife man who led police on a days-long manhunt, ending with him ramming a truck into multiple RCMP vehicles during a violent takedown, has been sentenced to three years behind bars.

Garry Taylor, 39, was sentenced on Dec. 20 after being convicted of more than a dozen offences, including resisting arrest, driving while disqualified and assaulting a peace officer with a weapon.

Taylor was out on bail with orders not to consume or possess alcohol when a Mountie spotted him inside Yellowknife’s downtown liquor store on Jan. 19 of last year.

When the officer tried to arrest Taylor, he fled to the back to the store.

Taylor grabbed two bottles of wine and gestured like he was going to throw them at the Mountie, according to an agreed statement of facts. Fearing for his safety, the officer deployed his Taser, but Taylor was able to break through shelving at the back of the store.

He fled through the building’s fire exit.

Two days later, Taylor again evaded police.

Taylor, behind the wheel of a truck, barrelled towards an undercover Mountie after being spotted outside of Crestview Manor apartments. The officer pointed his gun at the oncoming truck and yelled for Taylor to stop. He didn’t. With nowhere to go, the Mountie was forced to jump on the truck’s hood before being thrown to the ground.

The officer was not seriously injured.

The dramatic encounter prompted Yellowknife RCMP to issue a public appeal in the hopes of locating and capturing Taylor, the subject of an intensifying manhunt.

On Jan. 23, a tip led Yellowknife RCMP to Ciara Manor on School Draw Avenue, where Taylor was seen in a parked truck alongside other occupants.

Mounties moved in, surrounding Taylor with their RCMP vehicles.

Taylor put the truck into reverse, smashing into a Mountie’s vehicle before driving forward and crashing into Ciara Manor, causing over $33,000 in damages. He rammed into another police truck before Mounties eventually pinned Taylor’s truck in a corner.

Taylor was apprehended after officers smashed the truck’s window, hauling him out of the vehicle and into custody.

At sentencing late last month, Taylor was handed a three-year driving ban and two years of probation. Taylor is barred from possessing weapons for five years following his release.

With credit for time spent in pre-trial custody - 16 months - Taylor will have just over one-and-a-half years left to serve.