A Grande Prairie truck driver is awaiting sentencing for a 2017 crash in Fort McMurray that killed a 65-year-old man and injured a young woman.
On Wednesday, Fort McMurray’s Court of Queen’s Bench heard what happened when Tyrel Burton drove into a lineup of traffic on Feb. 11, 2017.
Burton, a truck driver of 11 years, was driving into Fort McMurray for the first time, according to the agreed statement of facts. He was looking out the window to find his destination.
Burton wasn’t paying proper attention to the road. He was driving at 86 km/h toward a lineup of four cars stopped at a red light.
He didn’t take his foot off the gas until one second before hitting David Caldwell’s pickup.
Caldwell wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and died after he was thrown from the vehicle.
Caldwell’s pickup was pushed into the vehicle in front of him; that car rolled and was pinned against a traffic post.
The driver, a 16-year-old girl, was trapped in the car for four hours. She suffered a broken leg and other injuries.
The girl was in the hospital’s intensive care unit for five days.
‘We are lost’
In court, several victim impact statements were read out loud, including one from Caldwell’s widow.
A representative from victim services read her statement to the court.
“I cannot drive without a few tears sliding down my cheek,” Patsy Caldwell wrote.
Patsy said she and David were school sweethearts and she’s “sad he did not meet our youngest grandson.”
She said David was the kind of person everyone shared their secrets with and now that he’s gone, “we are lost sheep without our shepherd.”
“He always made us smile even when we were so angry we could spit tacks.”
While victim services read the statement, Burton put his head in his hands and sobbed audibly.
In June, Burton pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm.
“We are so sad because he died of a careless action,” wrote Patsy Caldwell.
The 16-year-old’s mother also filed a statement, which prosecutor Scott Niblock read aloud.
She was crying and there was nothing I could do to make it okay.– Victim’s mother
“I will never forget the phone call,” wrote the mother.
She said her daughter called and said, “I can’t feel my legs.”
The mother went to the hospital to meet her daughter, but had to wait for hours before she arrived.
“I now know the definition of hell.”
She said her daughter suffered immensely from her injuries.
“She was crying and there was nothing I could do to make it okay.”
Now every time her daughter leaves the house, she worries.
“I hear sirens and I immediately try to think of where my daughter is.”
Niblock argued that Burton should serve one to two years for dangerous driving causing injury, and three to four years for dangerous driving causing death. He added the sentences should be served concurrently.
“This was a bad accident on a highway, caused by someone who should’ve known better.”
Defence attorney Chris Millsap said Burton should be sentenced to two years for the offence and told Justice David Gates, “You’re sentencing a very good man.”
Burton is a father of three. His wife, father and sister were in court Wednesday to offer support.
“This is a sad day all around. Nobody wins here today. Everyone loses.”
The sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27 at 2 p.m.