‘Miracle no one was killed’

An altercation over the failed sale of a pricey watch precipitated a high-speed, catastrophic collision in East St. Paul last spring that sent four people to hospital and left a road looking like a war zone, a Manitoba judge heard Wednesday.

Harley Dennis Masyk, 31, previously pleaded guilty in provincial court to dangerous driving causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon for causing the April 10, 2024 collision on Raleigh Street near Pritchard Farm Road at about 8:15 p.m.

He attacked one of the badly injured victims with a golf club he found in the wreckage after the crash.

“It appears to be a miracle no one was killed,” Crown prosecutor Vuk Mitrovic told provincial court Judge Anne Krahn at Masyk’s sentencing hearing Wednesday, describing the chaotic scene as looking like “a battlefield.”

Krahn sentenced Masyk to two years less a day of jail time, plus a five-year driving ban.

“This was not an accident, but an attack,” she said, echoing a comment made by one of the victims in a statement filed in court.

She said the gravity of Masyk’s crimes required that she send a message to the public by putting him behind bars.

His defence lawyer, Matt Gould, had sought a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served as house arrest, while Mitrovic asked for 4 1/2 years in prison.

Sentences of less than two years are served in provincial correctional facilities.

Mitrovic told court Masyk stopped his truck at Garven Convenience in Springfield, about six kilometres away from the crash scene, on the evening of April 10.

Jared Bigelow, Rheed Lafreniere, Alex Wishlow and Madison Lopston also stopped at the convenience store in Wishlow’s Dodge Ram truck. The group got into an altercation, which began in Wishlow’s truck and spilled into the parking lot.

Gould told court that Masyk had planned to sell a $2,000 watch to someone in the group — he was acquaintances with two of them — for $1,200.

However, Gould said, when Masyk got inside Wishlow’s pickup truck, a scuffle ensued and the would-be buyer attempted to rob him of the watch.

Masyk claimed one of the victims waved a handgun inside the truck. Mitrovic said RCMP did not recover a firearm.

Masyk got out of the vehicle with the watch, but left his cellphone behind in the cab, said Gould. After a further altercation between Lafreniere and Masyk in the parking lot — partially captured on video by an unknown man — the group left in Wishlow’s truck, with Bigelow behind the wheel.

Mitrovic did not call evidence disputing the alleged attempted robbery and conceded Masyk felt wronged after the altercation.

But instead of calling for police at the store, Masyk pursued and targeted the group, chasing them in his truck at high speeds in a rural, but residential, area for six kilometres, which Krahn deemed a form of vigilante justice.

The two vehicles eventually came to the two-lane, 60 km/h Raleigh Street, travelling south, as Masyk increased his speed, closing the distance between the two trucks, said Mitrovic.

An RCMP expert calculated that Masyk travelled between 105 and 123 km/h in the lead-up to the collision, while Bigelow was going 115 km/h.

The front right corner of Masyk’s vehicle struck the left rear of the truck he was pursuing, causing both vehicles to spin out and roll over.

Video of the crash, captured on a nearby home’s surveillance system, spread widely on social media and was entered as evidence in court.

STARS ambulance in east st. paul crash footage

byu/Worldly_Relief_5191 inWinnipeg

After his vehicle came to a stop, Masyk retrieved a golf club from the debris, pursuing Bigelow and hitting him with the club. He then turned his attention to Wishlow, who was lying on the ground, and threatened to hit Wishlow with the weapon, said Mitrovic.

Masyk then asked about the gun, but Wishlow said he did not have one. A bystander who stopped at the scene told Masyk to back off and not to hit Wishlow, said Mitrovic.

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Police, firefighters, paramedics and a helicopter ambulance arrived to the chaotic scene, with significant vehicle debris strewn about and multiple seriously injured people needing help.

Masyk required only stitches to his lip.

Bigelow had fractures to his spine and skull, a brain injury and a slew of other wounds, which he’s still recovering from.

Wishlow’s injuries included a broken leg, an ankle tendon injury and a concussion, among others.

They’ve been left with lasting pain and emotional trauma, said Mitrovic.

Lopston had a spine fracture and many other injuries, leaving her with lasting physical and emotional pain, including a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis.

“My life has been irreversibly altered and the consequences of that day continue to haunt me,” she told court, adding she is no longer able to work.

Lafreniere sustained broken ribs and other injuries.

Masyk apologized in court for his actions. He had no prior criminal record.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.