Windsor man pleads guilty to hit-and-run death of senior
A Windsor man who drove off in his pickup truck after fatally colliding with a 72-year-old pedestrian has pleaded guilty in the case, more than two years after the incident. Matthew Pilon, 43, made a court appearance last week to plead guilty to a charge of failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing death.
Assistant Crown attorney Renee Puskas said Pilon’s sentencing will take place Feb. 5. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, failure to stop at the scene of an accident when death is involved is an indictable offence with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
On the morning of Jan. 18, 2016, around 11:10 a.m., 72-year-old Margaret (Joan) Kearns was at the intersection of Tecumseh Road East and Kildare Road when she was struck by an eastbound Ford F-150 pickup truck. Witnesses said the black truck left the scene — continuing east on Tecumseh Road.
You will stay in our hearts forever, we know ... Love, your adoring children and grandchildren.
One witness told the Star that the victim had “a tire track down the length of her body,” with blood coming from her mouth and ears, and both her legs appeared to be badly broken. Kearns was taken to hospital. She remained in critical condition until Jan. 30, when she succumbed to her injuries. Windsor police sought help from the public to identify the suspect vehicle and driver, releasing a surveillance camera image of the black truck and a description of its various decals.
Two days after the collision, on the afternoon of Jan. 20, Pilon turned himself in at Windsor police headquarters.
In her obituary, Margaret (Joan) Kearns was described as a mother and a grandmother. Her husband, Arthur Melvin Kearns, died in 2011 at the age of 79. A notice In Memoriam by the Kearns’ offspring said: “We think about you everyday, in everything we do and say. You taught us everything we know, how to live, laugh and love each other so. You will stay in our hearts forever, we know ... Love, your adoring children and grandchildren.”