No jail time for man driving unlit farm vehicle in fatal Delta, B.C. crash

The man who was driving an unlit farm vehicle involved in a deadly Delta, B.C., crash three years ago won’t spend time behind bars.

Jasdeep Singh Sandhu pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in the October 2021 crash on Highway 17A. He was operating a slow-moving 14,500-kg bean harvester when 77-year-old Joan Sherry slammed into it from behind and died.

On Tuesday, B.C. Provincial Court Judge Reg Harris sided with Sandhu’s defence, handing him a suspended sentence with three years of probation.

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The conditions of the sentence include a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for the first year, along with a ban on nighttime driving and a ban on operating anything larger than a four-door vehicle for the first year. He must also complete 150 hours of community service.

“We would have liked to have seen some stricter punishment, but he does have to live with this for the rest of his life, because he did kill our mother and she was a wonderful woman,” Sherry’s son Norm Sherry told Global News.

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“There needs to be more strict punishment for taking a life on the road, and he’s not alone in this either, the company that he works for is responsible for this as well because they knew the condition of the vehicle.”

At a sentencing hearing in September, Sandhu apologized for his role in the crash, tearfully telling the court, “If I could change the events of that day I would do so in a heartbeat.”

The court has previously heard that the slow-moving bean harvester had no rear lights, no red flags and no wide-load signage.

2:08 Deadly Delta farm vehicle crash case hears sentencing submissions

The person who was supposed to be driving a pilot car accompanying it was taking a shower and had planned to meet Sandhu halfway to his destination.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year conditional sentence and a five-year driving ban, arguing the collision was entirely Sandhu’s fault and the product of intentional risk-taking.

Sandhu’s defence argued he had suffered a “momentary lapse in judgment.”

Criminal charges were not initially recommended, but that changed after an independent review of the Delta police investigation.