DEADLY STREETS
A man has been convicted and may face jail time after he killed woman in 2013 TTC bus crash,
A driver who killed a woman and injured more than a dozen other people when he slammed his delivery truck into a TTC bus nearly four years ago is facing the possibility of jail time.
Late last month, an Ontario Superior Court jury convicted Vicente Arbis of six criminal charges related to the collision, the Star has learned. The court heard evidence that just before the crash, Arbis, 43, was driving the wrong way, holding a phone to his ear, and travelling as fast as 85 km/h in order to beat a red light.
The collision was forceful enough to shear a wooden utility pole off its base and cave in the front of the bus. It also left 52-year-old grandmother Manoranjana Kanagasabapathy dead. Soruby Kanagasabapathy, Manoranjana’s daughter, said the verdict means “there was some form of justice served.”
Kanagasabapathy described her mother as an honest and dependable person and the “backbone” of the family. She said that since her death, the family has had to look after Soruby’s widowed father, and Soruby has less help to care for her own two young children. “So all our lives have totally changed,” she said.
Soruby said she believed Arbis should face the maximum penalty. The charges he was convicted of include criminal negligence causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, although it’s unlikely he’ll receive a punishment that severe. He is due to be sentenced on March 22.
Arbis’ss lawyer didn’t return requests for comment for this article.
The deadly crash occurred at Steeles Ave. E. and Middlefield Rd. in north Scarborough shortly before noon on Aug.13, 2013. Arbis was driving his food delivery truck eastbound on Steeles when he veered into the westbound lane, entered the intersection and plowed into the bus, which was taking on passengers at the northeast corner.
According to a transcript of closing arguments in the case, Arbis’s lawyer argued that his client wasn’t at fault because he fainted behind the wheel. An expert medical witness testified he suffered a syncope, or sudden loss of consciousness caused by falling blood pressure.
But assistant Crown attorney Malcolm Savage countered that Arbis’s defence was “simply not believable,” in part because the vehicle would have to have travelled nearly the length of a full city block in a straight line while its driver was unconscious.
In his closing remarks, Savage depicted Arbis as racing recklessly through the streets on the morning of the crash. Savage said he was an hour behind on that day’s deliveries and was on his way to pick up a co-worker, which would have taken him in the opposite direction of his route and put him even further behind schedule.
Savage said Arbis was attempting to beat the red light and make a left turn onto Middlefield and deliberately crossed into the oncoming lane so that he could bypass the left turn lane, which witnesses said was backed up with cars.
Although cellphone records didn’t indicate Arbis was on a call at the time of impact, witnesses said they saw him holding a phone. Savage argued that Arbis had taken out his phone in an attempt to contact his co-worker and became distracted, causing him to lose control of the van. A crash reconstruction expert testified he was going between 75 km/h and 85 km/h as he entered the intersection and struck the TTC vehicle.
Kanagasabapathy was killed as she was stepping onto the bus. Others on board suffered varying degrees of injury, including the bus driver, who had to be rescued from the wreckage.
“This case is not about whether Vicente Arbis intended to cause the carnage that occurred on Aug. 13, 2013,” Savage told the jury.
“Vicente Arbis did not get into a delivery truck that day and decide to kill and injure people. This trial is about whether Mr. Arbis drove his truck in such a reckless and dangerous manner that he should be held criminally responsible for the colli- sion which he caused.”
Arbis was convicted on one count each of criminal negligence causing death and operating a motor vehicle causing death, and two counts each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and operating a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.
Patrick Brown, a lawyer and traffic safety advocate who has argued civil cases on behalf of victims and their families, predicted that Arbis won’t be sentenced to life in prison but will almost certainly receive jail time. With files from Alyshah Hasham