Sheri Bryan wants answers.
The mother of Anthony Conklin, a 20-year-old Barrie man who died in April 2020 after being hit by a car on Mapleview Drive, Bryan still does not know why a negligent driving charge that caused death on 23 December was dropped. March 2021.
Bryan waited nearly a year for a justice of the peace to hear the Highway Traffic Law case against Christopher Brozny, 34, only to have the charges dropped within minutes.
A transcript shows that prosecutor Donna Maw told the court that she did not believe there was a “reasonable prospect of conviction by proving that Brozny was a careless driver.”
Bryan said his attempts to obtain more information from the Crown office failed.
“I can’t live with myself if I don’t get some kind of justice for my son,” she said. “It’s just the injustice of all this. The driver drove away without even a speeding ticket. “
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Ministry did not elaborate on the specific reasons for dropping the position, but said the decision was not made lightly.
“The decision to continue or end a prosecution may be one of the most difficult for the Crown,” Brian Gray said in an email. “In doing so, the Crown considers a number of factors, including all available evidence, applicable legal principles and the specific circumstances of each charge in any particular matter.”
Bryan hopes Brozny didn’t get special treatment because he is a York regional police officer who was off duty at the time of the accident.
“Makes you wonder,” Bryan said. “You hear that the cops get away with it.”
When asked if Brozny received special treatment from the Crown, a ministry spokesman declined to comment further on the case.
Brozny declined to comment when a Simcoe.com reporter spoke briefly with him at his home in Barrie on January 4.
Bryan hopes that a freedom of information request from his attorney will reveal the indictment’s reasons for dropping the charge.
A Barrie police report obtained by Simcoe.com explains what an investigator determined to have happened on April 9, 2020, when Conklin was struck while riding his skateboard in the middle of Mapleview Drive, just east of Sadlon Arena, around 1 : 30 am
Conklin was on his way to his older brother’s house on Courtney Crescent after visiting a friend on Marcellus Drive when he was hit from behind.
According to the report, Brozny did not provide a full statement to Barrie officers who first arrived at the scene, but told an officer that he was traveling between 60 and 70 km / h in a 60 km / h zone when his 2015 Mazda hit Conklin.
However, the report, produced by collision researcher Const. Doug Avery concludes that Brozny was traveling between 104 and 125 km / h when the front driver’s side of his car collided with Conklin that rainy April night.
Avery used mathematical equations known as “Searle’s Formula” and “Barzelay’s Formula” to determine the speed at which Bronzy was traveling, noting that she did not brake until the point of impact.
Conklin would have had a much better chance of surviving the collision if the Mazda had traveled at 60 km / h, Avery said in his report.
“Due to the higher calculated speed, the pedestrian had little or no chance of surviving his injuries,” the report states.
Avery concluded that Brozny should have been able to see Conklin on his skateboard even though he was wearing dark clothing and the wet road was causing reflections.
“It is the opinion of this officer that this was an avoidable collision that resulted in the death of Anthony Conklin,” Avery said in the report, adding that the weather conditions were “poor but manageable.”
Avery noted that another driver who passed through Conklin just before the accident had difficulty seeing him, but was still able to describe what he was wearing and that he had a “white face.”
According to the report, Brozny told a Barrie officer at the scene that he was returning to his home on the eastern edge of Barrie after finishing a shift as a police officer in the York region when the collision occurred.
The officer concluded that Brozny showed no signs of impairment, so he was not tested for drug or alcohol use.
Bryan questions the decision not to evaluate drivers when collisions are severe.
“They don’t know for sure because they never examined it.”
Reference-www.thestar.com