Woman shot while fleeing Ottawa police sentenced to five years

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The woman shot by a police officer while wielding a handgun and running through residential Westboro streets in March 2024 was sentenced to five years in prison this week.

Morgan Laplante pleaded guilty in September to dangerous driving while possessing crack, cocaine and a loaded handgun as she fled from an Ottawa police traffic stop, ditched her car and fled on foot along Tweedsmuir Avenue and Avondale Avenue.

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Laplante pleaded guilty to four of the 13 charges she initially faced, including breach of a prior court-ordered weapons ban.

Her defence lawyer, Joe Addelman, said his client admitted to carrying the gun, but “adamantly denies” she pointed it at the two police officers who were in pursuit.

Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey imposed a five-year prison sentence on Feb. 18. Laplante received credit for the time she had already spent in custody, leaving a little more than three and a half years remaining on her sentence.

Surveillance video from doorbell cameras along Avondale captured parts of the foot chase on the early afternoon of March 22, 2024.

Two officers, Const. Paddy McGill and Const. Patrick Wiseman, can be seen on the video pursuing Laplante, and Wiseman is heard repeatedly yelling, “Drop the gun!”

Wiseman fired four shots at Laplante, and she was struck twice, with one bullet passing through her left shoulder and the other hitting her in the stomach.

Laplante was initially charged with pointing her firearm at the officers, but that charge, along with the other remaining offences she initially faced, were withdrawn as part of her guilty plea.

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“The police were concerned for their safety as they perceived the handgun being pointed in their direction. As a result, Const. Wiseman fired four rounds from his service-issued firearm and hit (Laplante) twice,” Assistant Crown attorney Matthew Humphreys said at the plea hearing last year.

One bullet fired by the officer ricocheted and became embedded in the front-door glass of a home on Avondale while the homeowners were present, Humphreys said.

The officers kicked her gun away, handcuffed Laplante and administered first aid until paramedics arrived and rushed her to the hospital in critical condition.

She was under a five-year weapons prohibition at the time resulting from a prior assault conviction.

The Crown had called for a seven-year sentence with a one-year driving ban during a sentencing hearing in January.

Laplante’s lawyer, Addelman, countered with a proposal that included three years in jail with three years of probation and a three-year driving ban.

The Special Investigations Unit cleared Ottawa police of any wrongdoing in a report issued last July.

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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