A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to two years in prison for impaired driving causing the death of a 19-year-old man in Newtown, N.S.
The RCMP responded to the single-vehicle collision just before 3 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2015.
Police say a small pickup truck left the road and struck a power pole.
One passenger, 19-year-old James Daniel Poirier of Port Hawkesbury, was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.
The driver and another passenger were taken to hospital with injuries and blood samples were taken from the driver in order to determine his blood-alcohol level.
Scott Nicholas Lundrigan was initially charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death, impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.
The Mulgrave, N.S. man later pleaded guilty to one count of impaired driving causing death and one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm.
Both families attended the sentencing Monday at Port Hawkesbury provincial court, with sheriffs and RCMP officers in between. Eight victim impact statements were read in court, with family members and friends of Poirier calling the situation a nightmare.
“I was a very strong and outgoing member of this community. I sat on every board. I’ll never be that person again,” said Poirier’s mother, Debra Long.
“I can no longer be the mother or grandmother that I want to be to my son because it is so heartbroken to know that one of my children no longer walks the earth from a 100 per cent preventable death.”
Both the Crown and defence recommended that Lundrigan be sentenced to two years in federal prison, in addition to 24 months probation.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
