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Driver gets house arrest for ‘catastrophic’ Surrey street-racing crash

Sukhpal Singh Mann, 24, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm in crash that seriously injured three people
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Surrey provincial court. (File photo: Tom Zytaruk)

A man who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm related to a “catastrophic” Surrey street-racing crash that seriously injured three people has been sentenced to house arrest for two years less a day, followed by two years of probation and a three-year driving prohibition.

Judge Mark Jetté sentenced Sukhpal Singh Mann, 24, in Surrey provincial court on May 17. Mann was 21 when he crashed into the victims on Aug. 9, 2020.

“Sadly, his judgement on the 9th of August 2020 was exceedingly poor, and now all of them, offender and victims alike, must confront an altered future,” Jetté stated in his reasons for sentence.

The Crown sought a sentence of 18 months jail followed by three years’ probation as well as a three-year driving prohibition while the defence argued for a Conditional Sentence Order (“CSO”) of two years less a day, which is provincial time (two years is federal), with a three-year driving prohibition.

The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m., at the intersection of Scott Road and Mall Access. Mann was driving a 2019 Ford Mustang for the first time, was not its registered owner, and was carrying three passengers heading south.

The judge noted that in the moments leading up to crash intersection cameras recorded the Mustang heading from Scott Road and 84th Avenue, through the intersections at 80th and 75A, through to the collision itself at Scott Road and Mall Access. Those recordings were played in court.

The speed limit is 60 km/h. Jetté noted that as Scott Road and 84th Avenue, Mann was driving in a “normal manner” until Mustang stopped for a red light at 80 Avenue.

“At the intersection of Scott and 75A things had changed; a white car can be seen in the fast lane, speeding through the intersection on a yellow light. The Mustang was in the curb lane close behind. An analysis of the intersection recordings suggests that these two vehicles were traveling at approximately 130 kmh. Mr. Mann subsequently admitted that at this point he was racing the driver of the white car.”

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The court heard Amritpal Singh was driving his Honda Accord northbound on Scott Road, turning in Mall Access with his wife Melannie Makier-Williams in the front passenger seat and their two children – ages 5 and 3 - in the back seat.

The judge noted Mann entered the intersection at high speed on a “stale yellow light” and crashed into the passenger side of the Accord as it was part way into its left turn. Mohammed Ali, who had been waiting to cross the street, was then hit by the Accord “as it careened out of control.”

According to the Mustang’s on-board computer, one second prior to impact it was doing 158 km/h. After Mann hit the brakes and at half a second before impact the Mustang was travelling at 135 km/h, and 124 km/h at impact.

“The damage to the Mustang and the Accord was catastrophic,” Jetté noted. “First responders had to cut away the roof of the Accord to extract Mr. Singh and his family from the car. Miraculously the children were not injured, but their parents were not so lucky. Mr. Mann and his three passengers also avoided injury. Photographs filed at the hearing depict both vehicles. The Mustang is a convertible, and the top was down. I can only assume all of the occupants of the Mustang were wearing seatbelts, which probably saved their lives.”

Singh’s lower jaw, nasal bone and orbital bone were fractured. He underwent surgery to immobilize his jaw and required dental surgery to repair damaged teeth. “He regularly attends physiotherapy,” Jetté noted. “He is no longer able to engage in physical play with his children. He was on long-term disability as of the fall of 2022, which has also had a significant impact on family finances. He was unable to work for some two years after the accident.”

Makier-Williams was more seriously injured, suffering fractures to her pelvis, orbital bone and nasal bones. “She also fractured her occipital condyle, which is located between the base of the skull and the cervical spine,” the judge noted. “Her fourth lumbar vertebrae was fractured, as was her seventh rib. Glass was embedded in her face, she had blood in her lungs and her liver was bruised. She had surgery for the facial injuries and to remove the glass.” She was bed ridden for seven weeks, needed to use a wheelchair for some time after and was diagnosed with severe depression six months into her recovery.

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Ali, now 72, was also seriously injured, requiring surgery to repair his femur and knee. “He spent one month in the Royal Columbian Hospital, and a further six weeks in a rehabilitation facility, then several months in assisted living.” The judge said Ali can no longer live on his own and “grieves this loss of independence and deeply misses the life he was able to lead before all this happened.”

The court heard Mann is originally from India, came to Canada on a student visa in 2016 when he was 16 and became a permanent resident in 2021.

“Although Mr. Mann was not physically injured in this collision, he did suffer psychologically,” Jetté noted. “He reported feeling depressed afterwards, and was worried about the people he had harmed. His spouse reported that he has expressed suicidal thoughts. Not long after the accident he was admitted to hospital and spent 15 days in the psychiatric ward.”

Jetté noted the usual range of sentencing for “cases such as these” is 18 to 24 months in jail, “to a high” of eight to 10 years in prison. While a jail sentence of six months or more would have, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, triggered deportation with no right to appeal, a CSO of any length would not.

“He was only 21 years old when he committed the offence. I accept that he is sorry for what he has done and the harm he has caused. I find that his expressions of remorse are heartfelt and genuine,” the judge found.

“I have taken into account Mr. Mann’s age at the time of the offence, and that he had been unmoored from direct parental guidance since he was 16 years old. The race with the white car was of brief duration, starting somewhere around 120th and 75A Avenue, and continuing to where 120th intersects with Mall Access, which I calculate to be a distance of at most two blocks. There is no evidence that this brief race was anything other than spontaneous. I find that his decision to participate in this dangerous enterprise was a spur of the moment error in judgment. These facts attenuate to some extent Mr. Mann’s moral culpability for this offence, although I certainly take into account as well that over that short distance he attained a speed which was more than double the speed limit.”

During the first 14 months of house arrest, Mann must abide by a 24-hour curfew except when his conditional sentence supervisor permits him to go to work or venture out for other “reasonable purposes” such as a medical emergency. After that, he must abide by an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for the next six months.

The balance of his “house arrest condition,” Jetté said, include not possessing or consuming alcohol, drugs “or any other intoxicating substances, except with a medical prescription,” and to complete counselling and 100 hours of community work.



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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