Off-duty paramedic with PTSD avoids criminal record

Woman gets conditional discharge after pleading guilty to dangerous driving

An off-duty paramedic who was suffering from post-traumatic stress at the time of a dangerous driving offence has received a conditional discharge, meaning she won't have a criminal record.

Samantha Scott, 36, pleaded guilty in March to one count of dangerous driving in relation to an incident that happened in the early morning of Oct. 23, 2019, in North Vancouver.

She was near the intersection of Marine Drive and Garden Drive when she lost control of her vehicle, drove over a sidewalk, collided with two parked vehicles, and came to a stop with her front right wheel on top of the hood of another vehicle.

Scott reversed onto the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic, drove eastbound in the westbound lanes swerving from side to side, and then turned onto a street and sideswiped two vehicles before driving onto the yard of a residence.

Court heard that Scott had been a longtime paramedic and while employed in Vancouver had started to experience calls in a way that was foreign to her due to the “exploding opioid crisis.”

In March 2019, Scott responded to a farm accident involving a three-year-old child who died of gruesome injuries.

Although she obtained an advanced paramedic certification, by September 2019 she was in a downward spiral, according to the sentencing ruling in the case.

She was having nightmares causing her to be fearful of sleep, was drinking to excess, and was obsessive.

She reached out for help, but there was a delay in receiving help until November 2019.

“From all of the information, I observe Ms. Scott was a high-functioning individual, who because of post-traumatic stress, had an acute mental health crisis resulting in her offence,” said provincial court Judge Reginald Harris.

The Crown called for a $2,000 fine and a one-year driving ban, but the defence argued that a conditional discharge, resulting in no criminal record, was best for her and in the public interest. The judge agreed with the defence and imposed the conditional discharge.

A week after imposing sentence in Scott's case, Harris declined to impose a conditional discharge being sought by the defence in another dangerous driving case.

In the second case, Hua Feng, 37, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after his vehicle went into the Fraser River, at the south end of Fraser Street in Vancouver, in September 2019.

He was in an argument with his then-girlfriend, and drove through a gap between two concrete barriers and into the river.

Both Feng and the girlfriend were able to escape from the vehicle and get to shore safely, but the judge deemed the circumstances were so aggravated that a conditional discharge was not warranted.

In imposing sentence, the judge had considered the potential immigration consequences for Feng, who was born in China and has permanent residency status in Canada. A discharge would have no impact on his immigration status, but a sentence beyond a discharge would result in a presumption Feng is inadmissible to Canada, said the judge, who imposed a twomonth conditional sentence to be served in the community.