A hit-and-run driver will be spending four and a half years behind bars after being found guilty for criminal negligence causing death and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
It’s been exactly four years since Christopher Griffith struck and killed 40-year-old Robert Paterson as he was walking on 135A Street in an area known as the ‘Strip’ in Surrey. It’s an area known for its homeless population, drugs, and prostitution.
On Aug. 17, 2013, Griffith had been drinking and went to the ‘Strip’ with a friend so they could buy some drugs. According to court documents, Griffith paid a woman for a sex act and left the area with her. When he returned, Griffith said a group of people started yelling and surrounded his truck.
The presiding judge said Griffith was revving the engine trying to dissuade the crowd that was threatening him. Then he sped off at a high speed, jumped the curb and went into a lot located at 135A Street and 106 Avenue, where he struck Robert Paterson and killed him. Griffith left the scene, parked his truck about six blocks away and then returned, where he was arrested.
Griffith spent four days in jail before being released on bail.
After Thursday’s sentencing, Griffith’s lawyer said he’s very remorseful and he’s really turned his life around in the last few years.
“It’s a serious sentence. Obviously there were serious consequences involved,” Jordan Allingham, defense lawyer for Griffith.
“Mr. Griffith had at no time intended Mr. Paterson any harm whatsoever but criminal negligence causing death cases are treated very seriously by the courts because someone’s life is lost as a result of that.”
In the courtroom on Thursday, the presiding judge said Griffith’s four and a half year sentence was on the lower end of what he could have received. But the judge did give Griffith an 11.5 year driving prohibition because his driving record over the last decade has been “atrocious” and had a “troubling history.”
Griffith has two convictions for drinking and driving related offences, eight other prohibitions or suspensions, 13 other offences not related to impairment with three of them for driving without due care and attention.
Griffith was suspended from driving the night he struck Paterson in Surrey.
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