Sentencing for trucker hospitalized after Hwy. 402 Sarnia crash finally crosses finish line
The sentencing of a Southwestern Ontario trucker convicted of a charge linked to a crash that sent him and another driver to hospital and closed Highway 402 in Sarnia for several hours is finally over, nearly two years after he was rushed to London hospital in critical condition.
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The sentencing of a Southwestern Ontario trucker convicted of a charge linked to a crash that sent him and another driver to hospital and closed Highway 402 in Sarnia for several hours is finally over, nearly two years after he was rushed to London hospital in critical condition.
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Sentencing for trucker hospitalized after Hwy. 402 Sarnia crash finally crosses finish line Back to video
The collision took place shortly before 1 p.m. on March 23, 2021, near the Christina Street exit, about two kilometres before the border-crossing Blue Water Bridge. Harpreet Kang, a 38-year-old Ancaster resident, was hauling large concrete slabs as he headed towards the border between the Sarnia area and Michigan that Tuesday afternoon.
A long lineup of trucks was parked on the highway waiting to cross the border, but Kang, who didn’t slow down, according to a witness, crashed into the back of a transport truck with a trailer full of garbage. The other driver was treated for minor injuries at nearby Bluewater Health and released while Kang was transferred to Victoria Hospital in London due to his condition being critical.
Two days later, Lambton OPP announced Kang was charged with careless driving causing bodily harm under the Highway Traffic Act. Nearly two years later, Kang, through paralegal Chandni Jutla, pleaded guilty in a Sarnia courtroom to a reduced charge of failing to turn out left to avoid a collision under the same legislation. Both sides suggested the maximum $1,000 fine, plus administrative costs, along with a $1,000 donation to a charity, which is suggested fairly regularly in provincial offences court.
But the case was held up as Kang, who now lives in Brampton, hadn’t made the donation prior to the guilty plea in November.
“This is critical,” justice of the peace Helen Gale said at the time.
The case was adjourned multiple times until finally coming to a conclusion Thursday, when the charitable donation was finally confirmed by the court.
Last month, a Waterloo trucker narrowly avoided jail following a lengthy sentencing hearing for his conviction of careless driving causing death linked to a crash near the same spot on the highway in November 2019.
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