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Suspect in Toronto gas-and-dash death well known to police

People are bound to suggest gas-and-dash incidents, like the one that killed a Toronto service-station attendant on the weekend, are in some cases a response to spikes in fuel prices.

Before the fatal incident Saturday night, CBC News reported a rise in pump-and-run thefts that station owners attributed to a price jump earlier this month.

Personally, I doubt it. I know prices went up as much as 13 cents a litre in some spots last week (they've since dropped down) but I want to believe even a sharp rise like that doesn't suddenly turn ordinarily law-abiding drivers into thieves.

And in this latest case, I might be right. The Globe and Mail reports the suspect who allegedly fled in his SUV after stealing $112.85 worth of fuel at a Toronto Shell station, dragging an attendant to his death, is "very well known" to police.

They're looking for 39-year-old Max Edwin Tutiven, who has a criminal record going back 18 years and which includes at least one previous gas-and-dash case.

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Witnesses to Saturday's deadly incident told reporters the 44-year-old station employee who tried to stop the thief was dragged by the older-model SUV and was "hanging on for dear life" as it sped away, the Globe reported.

Last year, a 62-year-old gas station attendant in suburban Mississauga was killed when he tried to prevent a fuel thief from driving away.

The latest case will remind Canadians of the most infamous gas-and-dash in recent history.

In March 2005, a young thug named Darnell Pratt drove off from a suburban Vancouver service station after putting $12 worth of gas in his car. He hit 24-year-old Grant De Patie, who was standing in the driveway writing down the licence plate number, dragging him seven kilometres under the vehicle.

Initially charged with second-degree murder, Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and, though a youth at the time, was given a nine-year adult sentence. An appeal later reduced it to seven years, minus time served.

Given statutory release last year, Pratt repeatedly violated his parole conditions and ended up serving his entire term. He was released in July.

"I think he's worse off now than when he went in," Grant's father, Doug De Patie, told the Vancouver Province at the time Pratt was released. "He's his own worst enemy. I don't think he has the tools to survive in society."

De Patie's death prompted the B.C. government to pass "Grant's Law," which required service stations to provide additional protection for late-shift employees, either by adding staff or erecting protective barriers.

Most service stations had already begun requiring customers to pay at the pump or in advance of gassing up.

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However, last year WorkSafeBC amended the regulations about late-night workers under pressure from service-station and convenience-store owners who said the rules weren't workable, The Canadian Press reported.

Employers were given a range of other options they could choose from, including storing cash and lottery tickets in time-lock safes, improving visibility and video surveillance or restricting access to stores late at night.

Reacting to the weekend death, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty promised his government would look at ways to make workplaces safer.

"This gentleman lost his life in such a tragic and unfortunate way," Mr. McGuinty told reporters on Monday, according to the Globe. "I think one of the things we owe that family, and that gentleman in particular, is to take a long, hard look at what lessons we might draw from it."