Charges laid in hit-and-run fatality
Ontario man allegedly stole truck, struck pedestrian and fled scene
Charges have been filed in connection with the death of Zèlia Ponte Araujo, the 79-year-old who was killed on Sunday after being struck by a vehicle that left the scene.
The three charges are laid out in an arrest warrant filed at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday against Steven Harley Pinnell, a 33-year-old resident of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The same man was arrested Monday in Ontario after he was pulled over by police while driving a Chevrolet Silverado. The police suspect the same vehicle was involved in Araujo’s death. The Ontario Provincial Police pulled over the vehicle while responding to traffic complaints that it was swerving on a highway in West Nipissing, Ont., at around 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
Pinnell was placed under arrest after police realized the vehicle had been reported as stolen in the Montreal area.
The three charges listed in the warrant filed at the Montreal courthouse allege that Pinnell was behind the wheel of the Silverado when Araujo was killed. He is accused of “having caused the death of Zèlia Araujo knowing that (she) died or being reckless as to whether her death would result” from having been struck. The charge comes with a maximum life sentence upon conviction.
Another charge alleges that Pinnell stole the Silverado from an undisclosed location in Montreal sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept 26. A third charge alleges he was in possession of the stolen vehicle for roughly a week.
According to the Sudbury Star, Pinnell is currently charged in an Ontario court with being in possession of stolen property, six counts of breaching a probation, driving while his licence was suspended and reckless driving. He was ordered to remain detained for a future bail hearing in Ontario. The warrant issued in Montreal makes no mention of when he is expected to make his first appearance at the Montreal courthouse.
Araujo was struck by a vehicle on Sunday while she was crossing StUrbain St., near Mont-Royal Ave. in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. Her daughter, Maria, told the Montreal Gazette earlier this week that the victim had attended church that morning and was planning to spend the afternoon with her husband, who resides at a nursing home on St-Urbain St. She had stopped at a grocery store in between to pick up a few things to prepare her lunch but never made it to her home on Clark St. Her daughter described her as “a star” in Montreal’s Portuguese community and said she volunteered at a centre that helps new immigrants integrate into their new surroundings.