A man who was more than three times over the legal blood alcohol limit has plead guilty in a Regina courtroom Tuesday afternoon for the death of Tanner Kaufmann.
Colby Heid, who was 19 at the time of the killing, has pleaded guilty to driving over .08 causing an accident, resulting in death. In a joint submission, Heid is sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary and a driving prohibition of five years when he is out.
Heid was driving down Pasqua Street extension grid road, south of Zehner Road on September 4, 2016 when he struck Tanner Kaufmann going 79 km/h.
Tanner was out that evening walking his five-month-old German short-haired pointer named Macy, who also died in the collision.
Court heard Heid had been drinking at a family gathering, and had more than 25 drinks. He had a blood alcohol content of .293, more than three times the legal limit.
The court heard 13 victim impact statements from Tanner’s family and friends.
Tanner’s mother Gwen Kaufmann sobbed through her statement as she read out loud the impact of losing Tanner. “I wanted to die myself,” Gwen said.
Court also heard she lost Tanner’s brother too, and described herself as “forever broken… left with a hole in her life”.
Tanner’s widow Alyscia also addressed the court. She talked of the pain of losing her husband, partner, and “everybody’s favourite guy”.
“I will never see the man I fell in love with again,” Alyscia said, sobbing.
She also described the pain of telling their two young boys, Kolt and Parks, their father won’t be coming home.
She spoke of having to give up her career, and having many sleepless nights in tears. But through her tears, Alyscia had a message of hope for her and her family.
“I choose to live in light and not in darkness and sorrow,” she said.
She also addressed the man responsible for killing her husband.
“Use your time in jail to think about the man you want to be… You have the choice to be a good person,” she told Heid.
On the steps of the courtroom, Alyscia, surrounded by friends and family spoke about moving forward and getting closure.
“The family and I, and his friends are all happy closure is being brought and so we can move forward. I hope that he takes the opportunity to listen to all the victim impact statements so he can be a better person and better part of the community,” she said.
“Ultimately, none of this can bring Tanner back but I’m hoping that this will help bring awareness in front of the community to help other people make better choices.”
Throughout court, Heid was also emotional. He looked down, and sobbed throughout. In his statement to the court, he apologized for his actions and all the pain he caused.
He said although he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, he acknowledged it was his decision to drink and drive and that he ultimately caused the death of Tanner Kaufmann.
Friends and family showed their support, wearing Tanner’s favourite clothing — red flannel.
“Tanner loves his flannels and his plaids so he would have been smiling and doing a chest pump and thinking it was great that everybody wore one of his favourite types of shirts to wear, being proud that we’re wearing them and in memory of him, but also for awareness against impaired driving,” Alyscia said.
“He’d be very proud of that, and would’ve been definitely Tanner approved.”
Justice Murray Hinds offered the perspective that “drinking and driving remains a societal problem.”
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