'I'm incredibly lucky': Man who stole Vancouver police cruiser hit cyclist

Stolen police cruiser near miss A cyclist is lucky to be alive following a near miss with a stolen police cruiser joy ridden through Vancouver park.

It all happened within a matter of seconds. Christopher Taylor was biking near an East Vancouver park on a leisurely Sunday morning when he looked left to see a police cruiser barrelling toward him.

He tried pushing with as much force as he could muster on his black fixed-gear bike, hoping to get out of the way.

“I knew it was going to be close, and I heard a crunch and was thrown into the street,” Taylor said.

The driver of the vehicle crashed into the back of Taylor’s bike. Taylor said a bystander rushed over to him as he lay on an adjacent lawn in shock.

“(I'm) very grateful for being able to stand here and talk to you today, that's for sure,” he said.

At the time, Taylor thought he was in the wrong.

“I thought, initially, (that) I got in the way of something very important,” he said. “You know, messed up some sort of pursuit.”

He said a police officer eventually approached him, asking if he had stolen a police cruiser.

“I answered, 'No. I was hit by one,'” he said.

Joyride at park

According to the Vancouver Police Department, a 41-year-old man allegedly stole a police cruiser and took it for a joyride at Templeton Park.

Police say it happened around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, after officers were flagged down by a woman who was screaming in distress near East Hastings Street and Semlin Drive. Police allege Dustin Walter Tallio got into the cruiser and drove it into the park, where families with small children were playing.

Photos show extensive damage to Taylor’s bike. Taylor was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital on Sunday. He said the vertebrae in his lower back is compressed, but that doctors told him he could have had a different outcome.

“They all agreed that I'm incredibly lucky,” he said. “And I agree with them wholeheartedly.”

Taylor said he was upset when he found out what had actually happened that day.

“What if it had been somebody who couldn't get out of the way?” he said. “Or didn't have the reaction to move forward and froze? They'd be dead right now.”

Criminally charged

When asked Monday if police have a protocol when leaving their vehicles, VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said: “Our expectation is that when our officers stop their vehicles and get out of their cars to help somebody, that somebody’s not going to get in the car and steal it.”

Authorities previously announced Tallio had been criminally charged with theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, and failing to stop for police.

“What's the cost got to be before, you know, there's some actual movement in correcting things like this?” Taylor said. "Or people taking accountability for the actions in their lives?”

Sarah Leamon, a criminal lawyer at Sarah Leamon Law Group, said there are a number of options for Taylor to consider.

“If a person is looking for monetary compensation as a result of some kind of injustice or harm that they suffered, then they may consider filing a civil claim,” Leamon said.

Taylor said he’s considering legal options, but for now, he’s focused on healing.