Insurance Discussion

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s government auto insurance agency wants a Winnipeg man to pay for a violent rampage that has already cost him his freedom.

Manitoba Public Insurance has filed a $55,000 lawsuit against Jagjeet Gill, saying he showed a “flagrant disregard” for public safety and property in the August 2008 incident that prompted a police tactical team to swarm a quiet Winnipeg street.

Gill, 31, was sentenced recently to four years in custody after pleading guilty to 10 criminal charges. He faces possible deportation back to his native India upon his release.

Gill claims he took matters into his own hands when he believed his children were being abused and his concerns were being ignored. Police were called out on a sunny Saturday afternoon after a knife-wielding Gill chased a 39-year-old man in full view of stunned neighbours. The man had moved in recently with Gill’s estranged wife of 10 years.

The victim evaded Gill, who then got behind the wheel of the man’s vehicle and smashed into a pickup truck and a Triumph motorcycle parked on the street, causing extensive damage. Witnesses say Gill may have been travelling up to 70 kilometres per hour at the time of impact.

Gill then returned to his ex-wife’s home on the street, forced his way inside and grabbed the youngest of his five children while holding a butcher knife. Gill then sat on the front steps of the residence, the two-year-old at his side, negotiating with members of the Winnipeg police emergency response unit.

“The only way this is going to end is if I kill him. Or if you shoot me in the head,” Gill told officers. “That (expletive) broke up our family.

“Just bring him here and this will all be over. Nothing matters. If I don’t get him today, I’ll get him another day. I will kill him.”

Police were able to get close enough to Gill to jump on him and arrest him about 45 minutes later. There were no injuries.

MPI is now seeking to recover the cost of damages to all three vehicles used in the rampage. Gill, who is in prison, has 30 days to respond to the statement of claim against him.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca