Desperately Seeking Insight Please: Criminal Negligence Causing Bodily Harm?

Question

Hello,

I am a father of two and live in British Columbia, Canada. So I have a Canadian Law question. My son was involved in a car accident involving another vehicle. He had two passengers with him. He delivers fliers to several warehouses near the mountains here from midnight till about 5am. The accident occurred at an intersection in which the perpendicular road has a "right-of-way" and the road he was on intersecting it has a stop sign. He failed to COMPLETELY stop "but actually did press the brake for a second" as reported by a witness and as a result ended up being t-boned. One of the passengers he was driving was in a coma for about a month and is still in the hospital but awake and recovering. He is being charged with "Criminal Negligence Causing Bodily Harm". Is there anything he can say or do in his defense regarding this charge? I've looked up some information about Negligence and I saw that a punishment can be up to 1 year in prison. Will it be possible to dismiss this case?

Answer 1

I agree with StanS on this one and you will need to speak the prosecutor before this goes to trial see what can be done for your son and yes since this is his first offense I have see prosecutor go a little easier but as stated above he will have to make complete restitution just the same as you would want someone to do if this was your son.

Good luck.

Answer 2

This is serious. Get yourself a Canadian Attorney who knows Canadian Law and don't waste your time asking a question like this here.

Answer 3

This is not the place to be asking for legal advise...

I'm assuming your son is young, probably under or about 20. If he has no criminal record and this is a first offense, he will probably get off lightly. It will not be dismissed, as he did put someone in the hospital for more than a month. If he's lucky he may just get a suspended sentence and some community service time.

The person he hit deserves to be compensated for the time he lost, from his livelihood (the time (pay) he lost from work) and for pain and suffering.

It's easy to be slack when driving in the wee hours, but there is no excuse for not coming to a full stop at a stop sign - especially with another car coming - and he shouldn't make excuses.

He should visit the guy in the hospital, show his concern for him and apologize. That kind of action goes along way towards most courts. It makes for a good response when his lawyer says your son showed no concern.

He should he is willing to face the consequences of his actions.

You/he should definitely talk to a lawyer, if for nothing else to find out how the courts in your area handle this kind of thing and to see if he could have the charge changed to something more lenient. It would be good money spent.

Good luck