- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,190
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
On Sunday afternoon, there was a fatal accident at the corner of Meadowlands and Viewmount drives — a car and tow-truck— leaving a 55-year-old man dead.
Not 24 hours later, there was a charge of dangerous driving causing death laid against a motorist.
Some will see justice. Kerry Nevin only feels anguish.
Nevin’s son Andy, 39, was struck and killed as he cycled along Leitrim Road early on the morning of June 28, only to have the motorist flee.
Nine days later, after an anonymous tip and a police surveillance effort, Deinsberg St-Hilaire, a landscaper, was arrested and charged. And with what? Failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
But where, asks an exasperated father, is the charge for actually taking a human life, namely his son’s?
“I’ve never heard of a case before where someone was killed under these circumstances, and no charge laid for their death,” Nevin writes. “As it stands now, there is no charge for killing my son.”
He writes a good deal, in fact. He has appealed to Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau, the Attorney General of Ontario, Madeleine Meilleur, assistant Crown attorney Matthew Humphreys, city councillor Diane Deans, and Eli El-Chantiry, chair of the police services board, and several of their colleagues.
I sympathize with the man. It is a common experience for victims of crime and their families to feel that “justice” is a thing handled by experts in robes or uniforms — working in a bubble — only passively observed by those most deeply affected.
In this case, the Nevin family sees an accused who did not willingly come forward and, upon arrest, was quickly granted bail. As he left court, his family and supporters shielded the accused, lest his photograph be in the newspaper. Andy Nevin, meanwhile, is splashed across media, never gets to come home, stops being a husband, father and son.
Kerry Nevin is having difficulty accepting that the accused is not facing one or two more serious charges: criminal negligence causing death or dangerous driving causing death.
“Is my son’s life worth nothing in the eyes of the law?”
The explanation he’s been given is that police lack the evidence to proceed with the “causing death” charges because not enough is known about how the vehicle was being driven just before the collision. It occurred at about 5:45 a.m. and there don’t appear to be any witnesses.
It is, generally speaking, not a crime to have — in legal jargon — “a moment’s inattention” and be involved in an accident, even a serious one. The bar is set much higher to prove that a driving error was criminally negligent, which involves a “reckless disregard” for the safety of others; or dangerous driving, which requires evidence about the pattern of poor driving before the crash.
Nevin, understandably, takes a layman’s view of descriptions like “dangerous.” Who wouldn’t? Was it not dangerous, he wonders, for a vehicle to veer into Andy’s bicycle lane, with enough speed that his pedals gouged the roadway, knocking him some 20 metres away into a ditch?
Frustration aside, Nevin may be making headway.
Assistant Crown Humphreys wrote on Oct. 6 that he just received a 98-page report on the collision reconstruction and needed to review it before taking the next step. He said there is no cut-off date for charges to be altered, which he suggested would happen.
“Second, as we previously discussed,” Humphreys wrote, “I agree with you that the wording of the charge involving Mr. St-Hilaire having failed to remain at the scene of the collision needs to be re-worked. That will happen.”
(This, Nevin has been led to believe, is a rewording of the “fail to remain” charge, not a pledge to add another driving violation.)
A reply from police chief Charles Bordeleau also suggests there will not be a major upgrade in charges. In a letted dated Oct. 16, the chief says he has met with the investigative team.
“I am also confident that both the investigation and the pending prosecution are appropriate considering the evidence.”
Nevin did not point out another reason why these things matter. The wrong charge can lead to inadequate penalties.
The basic offence of “failure to stop at the scene” carries a maximum sentence of five years. Dangerous driving causing death has a 14-year maximum and criminal negligence can result in life.
You can only admire a father’s fight for his son. Someone struck and killed Andy Nevin, of that we are certain. What we think we know; what we can actually prove: of such things is our justice made.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
Not 24 hours later, there was a charge of dangerous driving causing death laid against a motorist.
Some will see justice. Kerry Nevin only feels anguish.
Nevin’s son Andy, 39, was struck and killed as he cycled along Leitrim Road early on the morning of June 28, only to have the motorist flee.
Nine days later, after an anonymous tip and a police surveillance effort, Deinsberg St-Hilaire, a landscaper, was arrested and charged. And with what? Failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
But where, asks an exasperated father, is the charge for actually taking a human life, namely his son’s?
“I’ve never heard of a case before where someone was killed under these circumstances, and no charge laid for their death,” Nevin writes. “As it stands now, there is no charge for killing my son.”
He writes a good deal, in fact. He has appealed to Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau, the Attorney General of Ontario, Madeleine Meilleur, assistant Crown attorney Matthew Humphreys, city councillor Diane Deans, and Eli El-Chantiry, chair of the police services board, and several of their colleagues.
I sympathize with the man. It is a common experience for victims of crime and their families to feel that “justice” is a thing handled by experts in robes or uniforms — working in a bubble — only passively observed by those most deeply affected.
In this case, the Nevin family sees an accused who did not willingly come forward and, upon arrest, was quickly granted bail. As he left court, his family and supporters shielded the accused, lest his photograph be in the newspaper. Andy Nevin, meanwhile, is splashed across media, never gets to come home, stops being a husband, father and son.
Kerry Nevin is having difficulty accepting that the accused is not facing one or two more serious charges: criminal negligence causing death or dangerous driving causing death.
“Is my son’s life worth nothing in the eyes of the law?”
The explanation he’s been given is that police lack the evidence to proceed with the “causing death” charges because not enough is known about how the vehicle was being driven just before the collision. It occurred at about 5:45 a.m. and there don’t appear to be any witnesses.
It is, generally speaking, not a crime to have — in legal jargon — “a moment’s inattention” and be involved in an accident, even a serious one. The bar is set much higher to prove that a driving error was criminally negligent, which involves a “reckless disregard” for the safety of others; or dangerous driving, which requires evidence about the pattern of poor driving before the crash.
Nevin, understandably, takes a layman’s view of descriptions like “dangerous.” Who wouldn’t? Was it not dangerous, he wonders, for a vehicle to veer into Andy’s bicycle lane, with enough speed that his pedals gouged the roadway, knocking him some 20 metres away into a ditch?
Frustration aside, Nevin may be making headway.
Assistant Crown Humphreys wrote on Oct. 6 that he just received a 98-page report on the collision reconstruction and needed to review it before taking the next step. He said there is no cut-off date for charges to be altered, which he suggested would happen.
“Second, as we previously discussed,” Humphreys wrote, “I agree with you that the wording of the charge involving Mr. St-Hilaire having failed to remain at the scene of the collision needs to be re-worked. That will happen.”
(This, Nevin has been led to believe, is a rewording of the “fail to remain” charge, not a pledge to add another driving violation.)
A reply from police chief Charles Bordeleau also suggests there will not be a major upgrade in charges. In a letted dated Oct. 16, the chief says he has met with the investigative team.
“I am also confident that both the investigation and the pending prosecution are appropriate considering the evidence.”
Nevin did not point out another reason why these things matter. The wrong charge can lead to inadequate penalties.
The basic offence of “failure to stop at the scene” carries a maximum sentence of five years. Dangerous driving causing death has a 14-year maximum and criminal negligence can result in life.
You can only admire a father’s fight for his son. Someone struck and killed Andy Nevin, of that we are certain. What we think we know; what we can actually prove: of such things is our justice made.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
