Winnipeg trucker in ‘la la land’ jailed 3 years
MELFORT, SASK. •Ajudge who sent a truck driver to prison on Monday for speeding through a construction zone and killing three teenagers said no sentence can relieve the overwhelming pain felt by their families.
Normand Lavoie received three years for each of the deaths he caused in May 2015 when his semi rear-ended the car the teens were in on their way home from football camp. He also was sentenced to a year for seriously injuring a flag worker.
The sentences are to be served concurrently.
“There is no remedy for the total destruction caused as a result of Normand Lavoie’s inattention, for whatever reason, as he drove his huge semi-trailer through the construction zone on that fateful day over two years ago,” Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Mona Dovell said. “As we all know the one thing all of you really want — being the return of Carter, Kristian and Justin — just cannot happen.”
Carter Stevenson, 17, Kristian Skalicky, 15, and Justin Gaja, 14, were heading home when their car stopped behind a pickup truck in a construction zone near Spalding, Sask.
Both vehicles had been stopped by flag person Samuel Fetherston.
In an agreed statement, court heard that Lavoie’s semi hit the teens’ car and the impact smashed it into a pickup truck. The truck was pushed across the road, where it struck Fetherston.
The three teens from Carrot
THERE IS NO REMEDY FOR THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION CAUSED AS A RESULT OF NORMAND LAVOIE’S INATTENTION.
River, Sask., all died upon impact. Fetherston is still recovering from his injuries.
Lavoie said he was tired and on “autopilot” because of the flat landscape. He also said he didn’t recall seeing six signs warning about the construction zone. The semi was travelling at a minimum of 84 km/h, court heard.
“You’re keeping the thing on the road,” Lavoie told an RCMP officer after the crash. “You’re just kind of in la la land. Basically, I’m there behind the wheel, but I’m not.”
Lavoie, who is 41 and from Winnipeg, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He won’t be allowed to drive for five years after he’s released from prison.
Lavoie is a married father of three. His mother and grandmother were killed in a truck-driving crash when he was 18 and he had used their deaths as motivation to become a safe truck driver.
At his sentencing hearing in August, Lavoie said he had “failed catastrophically” in that goal.