Toronto police released surveillance footage on Friday of a “gas and dash” theft that ended with the death of a Toronto station attendant.
The three-minute video, captured on a security camera at the gas station where of 44-year-old Jayesh Prajapati was killed on Saturday, shows a man driving a beige or silver Isuzu Rodeo pull up to a pump and fill his vehicle with gas.
The man also pulls as many as two jerry cans out of the back seat and fills them with gas, before getting back into the vehicle and driving away.
Prajapati was fatally struck by a vehicle at a Shell gas station located at the intersection of Marlee and Roselawn Avenues, west of Allen Road, last Saturday after trying to stop the driver from leaving without paying a $112 gas bill.
Police allege the driver captured in the video struck Prajapati, dragged him down the street and left him to die.
Police have issued a warrant for 39-year-old Max Edwin Tutiven, who faces a charge of second-degree murder. They have urged Tutiven to turn himself in.
Police believe Tutiven fled the city and may be in the Montreal area, and are asking anyone with information to contact authorities.
Prajapati’s family and friends say the father of one had been docked wages for stolen gasoline in the past and feared losing more money.
His death launched a wave of outrage from the community and an investigation from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.
On Thursday, MPP Mike Colle introduced a private member’s bill at Queen’s Park that would force customers pay for gas before filling up at the pumps.
The bill, called “Jayesh’s Law,” would also slap fines on gas stations that force employees to pay for stolen gas.
“Out of this we have discovered there is a very unfair and unjust practice taking place in the workplace, as far as gas station attendants are concerned,” Colle told a Thursday press conference.
“In my bill I have specific recommendations that increase the penalties for any individual or any company that participates in this claw back of people’s wages.”
