Ajax woman pleads guilty to 2018 fatal drunk driving crash

Awoman has pleaded guilty in a drunk driving crash more than two years ago that killed an Oshawa man.

Melanie St. Louis of Ajax pleaded guilty on Thursday to impaired driving causing death, a charge laid after a 2018 collision that claimed the life of Richard Lindsey. Lindsey, 50, died after St. Louis’s BMW slammed into his vehicle on Salem Road in Ajax.

The plea was confirmed by prosecutor David Parke. The hearing took place via video conference to adhere to COVID- 19 protocols, Parke said. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 23.

St. Louis, 44, was southbound on Salem Road at about 3 a. m. on Nov. 19, 2018, when her SUV collided with a Chevrolet Equinox driven by Lindsey, an employee of a private security company, as it proceeded eastbound from the off- ramp at Hwy. 401.

Both vehicles were destroyed in what witnesses described as a violent impact. Lindsey was found without vital signs and pronounced dead at hospital. St. Louis, who was extricated from her vehicle by firefighters, was also injured and taken to hospital.

An officer who travelled to the hospital in an ambulance with St. Louis detected an odour of alcohol coming from her and noticed that her speech was slurred, according to evidence presented in court. According to evidence, St. Louis claimed to have had just a few drinks that night. Police demanded blood and breath samples while St. Louis was at the hospital. An analysis of those samples indicated that at the time of the collision, she had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system, according to evidence.

At the time of the incident, St. Louis had a novice driver’s licence and was prohibited from driving with alcohol in her system, court heard.

Ironically, Lindsey, a security guard, had assisted Durham police in apprehending a suspected drunk driver during his shift hours before the crash.