Bus driver guilty in death of boy, 6
Plea spares family grief of reliving tragic day during lengthy trial
A school bus driver who ran over a six-year-old St. Albert boy, killing him, as he walked to school in a marked crosswalk was fined $2,000 in court Monday.
Joseph Brent Ernest Allen, 62, of Edmonton, was not in court for his conviction after his lawyer entered a guilty plea on his behalf.
Allen pleaded guilty to one count of failing to yield to a pedestrian, a charge under the Traffic Safety Act.
Allen received a $2,000 fine, the maximum under the Traffic Safety Act.
“This is truly a tragic event and certainly nothing this court can do, in any way, shape or form, can address this family’s grief,” provincial court Judge Bruce Garriock said in a St. Albert courtroom.
Thomas Wedman was fatally struck by a school bus driven by Allen around 8:35 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 27, 2013 as he walked to school with his father and 10-year-old brother Isaac.
The older brother walked ahead of Thomas, who was ahead of his father, Crown prosecutor Jason Neustader told court.
The two young brothers laughed and ran up the sidewalk together, as they did most mornings.
Allen saw Isaac walk into the crosswalk at the intersection of Sir Winston Churchill Avenue and Woodlands Road and stopped to let the older brother pass. There were numerous children on the bus at the time. Isaac reached the other side safely and turned to look back at Thomas, court heard.
Allen did not see Thomas as he stepped into the crosswalk and he struck the boy while turning the bus onto Woodlands Road, court heard.
The boy did not cry out in his last moments, his father later said at his memorial service.
Jeff Wedman, an officer with the Edmonton Police Service, wrote that he was pleased family members would not have to relive the morning of his son’s death during the trial that was scheduled to begin this week.
“In the nearly nine months since his death, we have been trying to adjust to life without Thomas being here with us,” Wedman said in a statement. “Even with the overwhelming support of so many people around us, this is an incredibly difficult task. All our family events, no matter how joyous, are coloured by the realization there is an empty chair and a missing smile.”
Wedman also said his family made a deliberate choice not to attend court Monday.
“The temptation to allow the findings of the court to take on significance in our grieving was something we intentionally wanted to avoid,” he said. “Trying to correlate the punishment meted out by the court with the effect the tragedy has had on our lives is a lose-lose situation.
“Doing so is the proverbial comparing apples with oranges, and we refuse to go down that path.”
Thomas was about 200 metres from his school, École Marie Poburan, a French-immersion Catholic elementary school, when he was struck. He had just started Grade 2.
The crosswalk where he was struck was marked, but not lit. Schoolchildren regularly crossed the street at that intersection.
Allen, who was a contracted driver with First Student Canada, was suspended after he was charged. Students from both Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools and St. Albert Public Schools were riding his bus.
Allen’s status as a school bus driver after his guilty plea is not known.
Allen was charged in November 2013, two months after Thomas Wedman was killed. On Monday, a Criminal Code charge of careless driving against Allen was withdrawn.