Suspect relieved at acquittal in fatal crash, lawyer says

More than five years after a crash that killed one woman and badly injured another, a dangerousdriving suspect is relieved he has finally been cleared, his lawyer said Thursday.

Defence counsel James Salimi said Brendan Chase Wild and members of his family were in tears Wednesday when Justice Colleen Kenny rendered her ruling.

Kenny found Wild not guilty on charges of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in connection with a June 23, 2012, crash northeast of Sundre.

Kenny found there was insufficient evidence to establish Wild’s driving was a marked departure from the normal standard when he lost control of his borrowed Nissan 350Z sports car.

Wild, 29, was driving westbound on Highway 587 between Bowden and Highway 22 at the time of the early evening crash.

Amanda Harlos, 19, died at the scene and Leah Shingleton, 27, was injured, suffering a compressed spinal cord and rib fractures.

“Emotional,” Salimi said, when asked his client’s reaction to Kenny’s verdict.

“His family was there showing support — they were in tears, he was in tears himself,” the lawyer said.

“It’s something that’s been hanging over his head for five years, so a lot of relief.”

Kenny categorized the crash as a momentary lapse of judgment on Wild’s behalf.

Wild testified last November that he was travelling at between 120 and 130 km/h in the 100 km/h zone when he was spooked by a deer and a fawn on the side of the highway.

“It startled me and I tried to go around it, and I guess I oversteered and the car went sideways and I tried to correct, to get it to come back the other way, and that’s pretty well all I remember before I was ejected from the vehicle,” Wild said.

Shingleton, Wild’s former girlfriend, suggested he was showing off when the crash occurred.