NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — A 42-year-old B.C. resident was convicted Thursday in a road rage incident in which a man was struck and killed by a truck that had run another pickup off a road.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Langley resident Brent Parent guilty of criminal negligence causing death, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
The incident happened on a Langley, B.C. road in March 2008 when 21-year-old Silas O’Brien and two friends were in a truck heading to the airport for a vacation.
The Crown says Parent became angry after he was passed by O’Brien’s truck and ran the other truck off the road before returning to the scene and mowing down O’Brien, who was standing by the side of the road.
Parent claimed he sped away because the men from the other truck tried to charge his vehicle and he didn’t realize O’Brien had been hit and killed.
But the judge said Parent’s version of events was inconsistent with common sense, pointing out he never thought to call police after the incident.
O’Brien’s mother Michelle said she was relieved with the verdict.
“Thank you, because you’ve all been very supportive,” she said to media outside the court.
“Today ends one of the final chapters of a tragic story that began with a young man losing his life in a senseless act,” said Corp. Adam MacIntosh of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which helped investigate the death.
Parent will be sentenced April 27, and his lawyer is considering an appeal. (News1130,CKNW,The Canadian Press)