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60 more days in jail for meth-driven road trip

Angelene Solien knocked a person over with an open car door and drove a stolen car down Highway 3
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A woman will spend the next 58 days in jail after driving alone with a learner’s licence in the early morning while “very high” on methamphetamine and knocking a person over with an open car door.

An initial police report indicated Angelene Desaray Solien hit another woman with a stolen vehicle and fled the scene Friday evening, but in court Tuesday, Crown lawyer Kurt Froehlich said the woman hit by the car had only suffered minor injuries, including bruising to the abdomen.

Defence lawyer Bob Maxwell told reporters Solien got into a dispute with her boyfriend and another 49-year-old woman at Lakeside Drive in Oliver involving drugs and money, and began backing up in the vehicle, and the open door of the vehicle knocked the other woman over.

Related: Car crash in Oliver leads to arrest and drug charges in Princeton

There was some confusion, too, about how far Solien drove — in court, Judge Michelle Daneliuk said Solien made it to Chilliwack before crashing, while the police report said she was arrested in Princeton after crashing the vehicle.

She was reportedly on her way to Vancouver to live in the tent city, which Daneliuk was particularly critical of for Solien’s own safety.

“People who live in that environment do so not out of choice, but because they are homeless and they are desperate and they have nowhere else to go,” she said.

In sentencing, Daneliuk noted Solien’s boyfriend had said she was “very high” on methamphetamine which she had been using all day.

“This is an extremely dangerous situation both for herself and for members of the public. And in fact she did end up rolling this vehicle in a ditch, I’m advised,” Daneliuk said. “Frankly, it’s just extremely fortunate that she didn’t injure herself or someone else as a result of this driving.”

On top of the drug, possession of stolen property and assault with a weapon charges, Solien was also faced with breach of probation charges. Solien was on a probation order from the summer, but had stopped reporting after October 30.

Failing to remain at the scene of the open door incident is considered an aggravating factor, as well as the fact that she was in breach of a court order.

Daneliuk also noted an apparent lack of acceptance of an issue with drugs, with Solien apparently not agreeing that she is addicted, though she had been using methamphetamine for a month prior to the incident.

But she also pointed to the support she has from her family, which can help her to get clean.

For two counts of possession of stolen property under $5,000, one charge of the possession of a controlled substance, one count of assault with a weapon and one count of failure to stop at an accident, Solien was handed a total of 60 days, with another seven days for the breach of probation charge.

Solien was given nine days of credit for time served in jail, and will have a 12-month probation period after her jail sentence.


@dustinrgodfrey
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
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