Driver gets fine, probation in hit-and-run death
He was the kind of person who would literally give you the shoes off his feet.
Colleen Franz described her son Matthew Wilson as a “really good person” who was always helping others. She remembered when he once gave a homeless man the shoes he was wearing. Another time when he gave away his new jacket.
Matthew was killed on April 4, 2021, when he was hit by a truck on Lakeshore Road in Niagaraon-the-Lake. His body was not found until the next day.
Last month, Robert Enns of Niagara-on-the-Lake was found guilty of failing to report an accident, and received a $500 fine and nine months’ probation. He didn’t face criminal charges.
“He even said in court he thought he hit a deer,” Franz recalled, wondering why Enns didn’t call police when he saw his vehicle was damaged. “Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m hurt. (Enns) left my son on the side of the road for how many hours? Like a dead skunk? A dead rat? A piece of roadkill? And he has never even said he’s sorry.”
Enns did not respond to request for comment.
In life, Franz said her 40-yearold son was an avid walker after a blood clot in his leg in 2018 inspired him to get more active.
“It got all cleared up and everything and the doctors told him to walk,” she said. “So, he took that literally and he walked everywhere because he didn’t want to have any more blood clots.”
All the way through school, Wilson was an honours student, Franz said, with his lowest mark being 96 per cent. He was also an avid musician, who sang and wrote music with his brother Kirk.
Franz said her son moved in with his 99- and 101-year-old great aunts before they died, to help out in the house. “They were determined never to go into a long-term-care facility,” she said, adding her son helped to fulfil that goal.
Since her son’s death, Franz said she’s received messages from people she doesn’t know telling her how much Wilson changed their lives.
“One girl, she said when they were younger, she was having some difficulties in her life, and she said Matthew seemed to be the only person that would listen to her, would talk to her, would have time for her,” Franz remembered.
“She said he got her to the help that she needed, and she said she’s alive today because of my son, Matthew. She said she wakes up every morning, thanks God for giving her another day on this Earth.”
Regarding the $500 fine Enns was ordered to pay, Franz said it isn’t about money, but pointed out the fine it is nowhere near what the family had to pay for funeral expenses.
Since Wilson’s death, a cross has been placed on Lakeshore Road to mark where he was hit. Franz said her family decorates it on holidays, to let her son know they’re always thinking about him.
“(Enns got to sit) down with his children on Christmas Day for Christmas dinner,” she said. “We (didn’t sit) down with our Matthew on Christmas Day for Christmas dinner.”