An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday for a Red Deer man awaiting trial in connection with a fatal collision almost three years ago.
New charges, including breaching bail conditions and a set of traffic tickets, have been laid against Rodney Ross Arens. He was previously ordered to stand trial in connection with a crash at the intersection of Kerry Wood and Taylor Drives in Red Deer on the evening of Canada Day, 2010.
Anouluck “Jeffrey” Chanminaraj, 13, was killed when the small car his sister was driving collided with a heavy-duty pickup truck. His sister, Stephanie, 20 at the time, was take to Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre for treatment and their 18-year-old brother, Jamie, suffered severe injuries and was airlifted by STARS to Calgary.
Family members said after the crash that Stephanie was taking her brothers to Bower Ponds for the Canada Day fireworks after celebrating their father’s birthday. The Chanminaraj family moved to Canada from Laos.
Red Deer City RCMP charged Arens, now 35, with numerous criminal offences, including impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death, as well as two counts each of impaired driving causing injury and dangerous driving causing injury.
Arens pleaded not guilty to the charges and was to have been tried in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench over a period of eight weeks, starting on March 25.
However, that trial was postponed in late January when he fired his lawyer, Will Willms.
Arens was supposed to appear in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday to answer the new charges, which include tickets for driving without a valid driver’s licence, driving an uninsured vehicle and driving an unregistered vehicle, as well as three counts of breaching bail conditions.
Judge David Plosz issued a warrant for Arens’s arrest when did not show up as ordered.
Arens is also scheduled to appear in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday to set new dates for his trial on the earlier charges.