A Ponoka-area man will spend nine months in jail and won’t be allowed to drive for at least a year, after the pickup he was driving hit a teenaged girl at a bus stop in Ponoka more than two years ago.
Dwight Richard Pugh, 58, was sentenced on Wednesday in Ponoka provincial court when he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm earlier this year.
Two other charges, including impaired driving causing bodily harm and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08, were withdrawn.
The 13-year-old student was walking on Oct. 23, 2009, to a bus stop with two friends around 8 a.m. when she was struck by a pickup truck. She was walking south on 38th Street in Ponoka when she was struck from the rear.
The impact knocked her into the ditch.
She was taken to Ponoka General Hospital, then to the University of Alberta Hospital as a precaution because of suspected head injuries.
The girl returned home a few days later.