Travis Graeme Knapp sentenced to 10 months prison after leading police on high-speed chase, fleeing on foot

A 33-year-old man led police on a high-speed chase and fled the scene on foot before he was found days later hiding under a blanket in a cupboard. Travis Graeme Knapp appeared via video link from prison in Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to six charges including reckless driving to escape police pursuit, failing to comply with a direction to stop, no authority to drive, damaging property and twice breaching a family violence restraining order. Police prosecutor Sgt Peter Yuswack told the court that about 8.20pm on February 16 Knapp was spotted by police driving a red Ford Falcon along Campbell Road with two passengers. Police activated their sirens but Knapp “accelerated heavily” on North Road reaching about 130km/h in a 60km/h zone. Knapp tried to turn right at the roundabout at North Road and Lockyer Avenue but mounted the kerb, causing the rear passenger tyre to “totally deflate”, Sgt Yuswack said. Sgt Yuswack said the Ford Falcon exited the roundabout on to North Road where it spun 360 degrees across the median strip, stopping on the opposite side of the road facing oncoming traffic. Knapp then ran from the vehicle, leaving behind his two passengers, and jumped on to the roof of a home in the RAAFA Amity Village, causing $800 damage. On the night of February 19, police were doing a curfew check at a home in Spencer Park where they arrested Knapp after finding him “hiding under a blanket in a cupboard” in breach of a family VRO. Defence lawyer Kyah Langdon said Knapp acknowledged he did not have a licence and said he drove because his friend had come to his house asking for a lift home. He had been using methamphetamine on the night of the incident, Ms Langdon said. Ms Langdon said “his addiction to methamphetamine had been the downfall for him” but he had been employed before and could build a meaningful life upon release from prison if he addressed his addiction. Sgt Yuswack told the court Knapp had a “significant number of no authority to drive offences” with this being his ninth conviction. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan said Knapp’s actions showed a “flagrant disregard” for the law and his manner of driving was “inherently dangerous to those passengers and any other road users”. “You fled the scene leaving your passengers to face the music with the police,” she said. Ms Scaddan said the circumstances of his arrest showed he knew what he was doing was wrong but “did it anyway”. Knapp was sentenced to 10 months in prison backdated to February 19. His licence was disqualified for two years and nine months.