A car thief who assaulted police officers, fled at speeds up to 170km/h and crashed and torched the stolen Jeep in Cranbourne has been jailed.
Diesel Jackson, 27, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to a raft of charges including arson, recklessly exposing a police officer to serious injury and car theft.
The unlicensed driver had been out of jail for just 76 days at the time of the offending, sentencing judge Arushan Pillay noted on 14 August.
About 6pm on 22 March 2024, Jackson attacked two police officers who attempted to arrest him in his Frankston bedroom.
In the scuffle, he punched an officer in the head and stabbed the other in the leg with a box-cutter.
He fled in a stolen Jeep, ignoring police’s lights and sirens and driving at a “fast and erratic” manner about 150 km/h on Frankston-Cranbourne Road.
Jackson used emergency and bike lanes to overtake other cars as well as running red lights and forcing an officer to take evasive action.
After filling a small bottle with petrol at a Cranbourne servo, Jackson drove down the wrong side of High Street into oncoming traffic.
He ditched several stolen goods such as IDs and gift cards out the window in Willow Glen Boulevard.
After driving on a footpath, a median strip and through red lights and reached speeds up to 170km/h, eventually the Jeep’s tyres were shredded with a stop-stick device.
Jackson lost control of the Jeep and mounted a median strip near a servo on Cranbourne Road.
Jackson got out of the Jeep, and the vehicle was “engulfed in flames”, Judge Pillay said.
A defence lawyer submitted that the arson was “driven by panic and in an attempt to destroy evidence”.
The judge found there was an element of foresight and planning in setting the car alight.
During Jackson’s arrest, he headbutted a police officer, causing a chipped tooth.
Judge Pillay noted Jackson’s “profound disadvantage”, including growing up around drugs and early abuse.
He was diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome. Dropping out of school at 16, he was largely homeless since then.
He had regularly fronted criminal court for the past decade.
Prior to the incident, he’d just completed a four-and-a-half-year jail term for aggravated reckless and intentional exposure of an emergency worker to risk by driving and other offending.
Released in the community without a home or supports, he relapsed into daily ice use.
He described himself as “cooked” at the time of offending.
Jackson was jailed for up to six years, with a non-parole period of four years. His term includes 510 days already served in pre-sentence remand.
