Drunk driver says he’s sorry for role in fatal 2011 crash

Andrew Ostrows k i choked back tears Wednesday as he apologized in provincial court in Surrey for crashing his car while drunk and leaving his best friend to die.

Sentence will be passed April 14 on Ostrowski, who last May was found guilty of impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death, and failing to stop knowing that death or bodily harm resulted in the 2011 accident.

His friend Sergio Martinez was badly injured in the collision and died in hospital a few hours later.

“The loss of losing Sergio is really hard to even put into words,” Ostrowski told Judge Peder Gulbransen. “He was more than just a friend, he was part of my family.

“I’m extremely remorseful. I have to face all the people that I’ve hurt.”

The Crown is seeking six to eight years in prison for Ostrowski, who on Sept. 6, 2011 blew through a red light in a busy intersection, crashed his car and left his best friend to die in the passenger seat to avoid being arrested on a robbery warrant.

Ostrowski admitted he has “a lot of issues” he has to deal with. “I still have a long journey to go,” he said.

Prosecutor Winston Sayson also asked Gulbransen to prohibit Ostrowski from driving for life.

Ostrowski’s defence lawyer, Stephen Hutchison, asked the judge to consider a sentence “either long provincial or very short federal.”

A federal prison term is anything over two years.

Hutchison said his client is sorry for his crimes and “wants to make amends.” He said Ostrowski started his own 12-step process in his unit at Surrey Pretrial Centre in an attempt to deal with his “substance abuse disorder” and has become a “role model” for fellow inmates.

“Clearly, alcohol played a massive role in what happened that evening,” Hutchison said.

Ostrowski was 23 when the crash happened. Driving while impaired, and while subject to an indefinite driving prohibition, Ostrowski ran a red light, entering the intersection of 88th Avenue and 132nd from a left turn lane, and a Nissan SUV T-boned his Honda CRX.

Twenty minutes after the crash, police found an intoxicated Ostrowski walking down a side street a few blocks away. He denied he was the driver and claimed that he and the person behind the wheel both ran away right after the crash.

He didn’t admit he was the driver for nearly three years. “Again, I apologize for lying,” he told the court Wednesday.