Summerland hit-and-run driver escapes jail time

A man who admitted to a hit-and-run in Summerland just narrowly escaped a jail term Monday.

Justin Inverarity, 33, pleaded guilty to failing to stop at an accident, driving with a suspended license and obstructing a police officer, and was sentenced in provincial court in Penticton to two years’ probation.

Court heard that around 9:30 p.m. on May 6, 2017, Inverarity was involved in a twovehicle collision at the intersection of Highway 97 and Rosedale Avenue in Summerland.

Three teenage witnesses identified Inverarity’s white, older-model truck, which cornered too sharply and cut off a Jeep Wrangler, hitting the Jeep’s driver’s side and then speeding off south down the highway.

Witnesses near the Summerland Dollarama told police they saw Inverarity jump out of his truck, enter the nearby Dairy Queen and eventually get into a taxi. Police were able to stop the cab and arrest Inverarity.

“The male identified as Mr. Inverarity continued yelling from inside the police car where he’d been detained,” Crown counsel Ann Lerchs said as she recounted the circumstances of the case in court.

“Mr. Inverarity did not have a driver’s licence and was, in fact, suspended.”

Police noticed an odour of liquor on Inverarity, who refused to provide a breath sample without a lawyer present, and attempted to get out of the police car by pushing against the officers.

He was issued an immediate roadside prohibition.

The female driver of the Jeep is still suffering from the physical injuries caused by the collision, according to Lerchs, along with anxiety and fear.

Lerchs joined with defence counsel Norm Yates in recommending the suspended sentence of two years’ probation.

Yates said his client has “lost a lot of his hopes and ambitions,” along with his vehicle and his licence as a result of the incident.

He is also currently in drug and alcohol rehabilitation and has a desire to help those going through rehabilitation in the future.

“I want to make it very clear that the circumstances that have been set out with respect to May 6, 2017, are troubling, and the charges that are before the court are serious,” Judge Meg Shaw in her decision.

The judge noted, however, that Inverarity’s attempts at rehabilitation mitigated his eventual sentence.

Otherwise, “to be very blunt sir, I would have sent you to jail, and I want you to understand that,” Shaw said.

Conditions of Inverarity’s probation include abstaining from drugs and alcohol, staying out of bars and liquor stores, and completing treatment.

Inverarity apologized in court when given the chance to do so.

“If I could turn back time, I would,” he said.

“The only way I can make a difference is helping people not make the same mistakes I have made in my life.”