A man will spend six months under house arrest after being convicted of failing to remain at the scene of a fatal accident.
The conviction stemmed from a May 10, 2019 collision involving Roger Gerald Joseph Dionne’s vehicle and motorcyclist Perbinderjit Rana.
Rana died shortly after the collision.
Dionne, 66, was driving southbound in the 7300-block King George Boulevard in Surrey, B.C. He was in the process of making a left-hand turn into a shopping plaza when his truck crossed the path of Rana's motorcycle. Rana hit his brakes immediately before the collision.
The motorcycle fell down on its right side. Rana’s helmeted head struck the right rear tire of Dionne’s truck.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Palbinder Kaur Shergill said in a May 30 decision released June 8 that Dionne could see people attending to a man on the ground, who he believed had been involved in an accident and could be seriously injured.
He parked his truck, got out of it, and assisted someone in standing Rana’s bike upright.
“Rather than staying at the scene of the accident, Mr. Dionne panicked and fled,” Shergill said. “Though he did eventually turn himself in, there is no doubt that those hours before he did so, must have been excruciatingly painful for his family as they struggled with the fact of Mr. Rana’s death and not knowing the identity of the person that may have been implicated in it.”
The next day, Dionne turned himself into the Surrey RCMP after hearing on the radio that the police were looking for a vehicle matching the description of his truck.
Shergill said the Criminal Code of Canada imposes an obligation on a driver involved in an accident to: stop, give their name and address and offer assistance if a person has been injured or appears to require assistance.
Shergill said while Dionne initially stopped at the scene, he failed to provide his name and address.
Dionne was also given an 18-month criminal driving prohibition and a victim fine surcharge of $200.
