WINNIPEG - A teenage girl who laughed and joked about the crash that claimed the life of cab driver Antonio Lanzellotti last year is once again behind bars.
Winnipeg police said the 17-year-old removed her electronic ankle bracelet April 6. She was arrested shortly after 12:30 a.m. yesterday in the 700-block of Dufferin Avenue along with a 16-year-old girl who had also removed her ankle monitor.
Police had been searching for the younger girl since Thursday. Both girls face multiple charges and remain in custody.
The 17-year-old has been arrested several times since she was sentenced last June for her role in the crash that killed Lanzellotti. She was a backseat passenger in the stolen sport utility vehicle that smashed into his cab at Portage Avenue and Maryland Street on March 29, 2008.
The teen became infamous after a videotaped police interview was played in court, showing her joking about the fatal crash. She told officers she "didn't care" an innocent man had been killed.
"In all my years as a Crown attorney, I have never seen a video like this," Crown attorney Liz Pats said in court last year. "The words unremorseful, uncaring and coldhearted can only touch on this statement."
In stolen SUV
The teen's callous comments angered many Winnipeg Sun readers, who know her only as "laughing girl" because she cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The girl, who was 16 at the time of the crash, was one of five passengers in the stolen SUV. All were charged with possession of goods obtained by crime, while the driver was charged with manslaughter.
In April 2008, a day after she was first released on bail after the fatal crash, the girl was arrested for breaching her curfew.
She was sentenced to two years probation last June and was ordered to wear a monitoring device. Four days later she violated her probation by hanging out with her best friend, a Level 4 auto thief she was ordered to stay away from.
Less than a week after that, she was again arrested after she tried to cut off her ankle bracelet.
Last January, the teen pleaded guilty to again having contact with her best friend.
adam.clayton@sunmedia.ca
