'The government has to bring it in': Prepay legislation will end gas-and-dash deaths in Alberta, activist says
Doug De Patie helped bring prepay Grant's Law to B.C. after his son was killed in a gas and dash
Doug De Patie says he was devastated when he heard an Alberta man was killed during a gas-and-dash last week in the community of Thorsby, about 70 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
"It took me right off my feet, I was visibly shaken," De Patie told The Homestretch.
For De Patie, the death of gas station owner Ki Yun Jo, who was killed on Friday while trying to stop a fuel theft, is an all too familiar story.
De Patie helped make pay-before-you-pump legislation to B.C. after his son Grant was killed in a gas-and-dash incident back in Maple Ridge, B.C., back in 2005.
Since the legislation, known as Grant's Law, was introduced in 2008, there have been no gas-and-dash deaths in B.C., De Patie said.
"Not only has there not been any gas-and-dash deaths, there literally has been no gas-and-dashes," De Patie added.
De Patie is adding his voice to those calling on the Alberta government to introduce legislation similar to Grant's Law, including the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) which has launched a new campaign called Time for Pay Before You Pump.
"Not only does pre-payment save lives – it also relieves police resources from investigating 80 to 100 gas-and-dash incidents a week," the AFL said in a statement on its website. "The Alberta Association of Police Chiefs has passed resolutions in favour of a pre-payment policy."
De Patie said gas station owners can voluntarily install prepay machines on their pumps, but making prepay at stations mandatory is the right solution to ending gas-and-dashes in Alberta.
"We've got to make it an even playing field for everybody and bring it in," he said. "The government has to bring it in."
'Hopefully, we can get something… like they have in B.C.'
Police say Ki Yun Jo was killed when the driver of a white commercial cube van sped away from the Fas Gas station in Thorsby without paying for fuel around 3:45 p.m. Friday.
As the vehicle was leaving, the 54-year-old man was hit while trying to get the driver's attention, police said.
The community of 1,000 people only has two gas stations and Deputy Mayor Lloyd Jardine says members of the town council are "going to take action" and push for the province to introduce pay-before-you-pump legislation.
"Hopefully, we can get something like that done like they have in B.C.," Jardine said.
On Facebook, Jo's family has reached out to the community, starting a crowd-funding page to collect money to convert the existing gas pumps at the station to pre-paid pumps.
Two Alberta gas-and-dash deaths in just over two years
In August, Joshua Mitchell was sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing Maryam Rashidi in a Calgary gas-and-dash theft in 2015.
Just four months before her death, Rashidi moved to Calgary from Iran with her husband to work as engineers in the oil and gas industry.
After both were laid off, Rashidi took a job as a gas station attendant at the Centex on 16th Avenue N.W.
She was only on her fourth shift on June 7, 2015, when she was killed trying to stop a man who attempted to drive away without paying for $113 worth of fuel.
Mitchell drove away without paying for fuel in a stolen Ford F-350.
Rashidi tried to stop the fleeing truck by climbing on its hood and Mitchell attempted to jostle her off but she fell under the vehicle, which then drove over her, causing fatal injuries.
Calls to the province not returned
On Sunday, Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray said the government is working on policies that should better protect workers in the future, with more information expected later in the fall.
Until there are concrete steps made in Alberta to end gas-and-dashes, De Patie said he feels the minister's words are "deflecting."
"I think she has to come out and say what exactly she's doing about pay-before-you-pump," he said. "That's the only answer to stop gas-and-dashes and the deaths."
De Patie said he has been lobying across Canada for years to get other provinces to introduce prepay legislation.
He says calls to both Gray and Premier Rachel Notley have not been returned.
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With files from The Homestretch