A provincial court judge has dismissed a charge of dangerous driving against a Washington state man in a deadly crash that killed a B.C. pastor at the Peace Arch border crossing in 2019.
Gurbinder Singh, 40, pleaded not guilty in 2024 to dangerous driving causing death in the explosive collision that left Pastor Tom Cheung dead on May 2, 2019.Cheung left behind a wife and two sons.
Justice Daniel Weatherly said on Thursday that Singh’s mental state was profoundly impaired at the time of the crash and dismissed the charge against him.
Singh was certified under the Mental Health Act after the collision and had suffered a mental health crisis the day before the crash.
Many of the facts of the deadly collision were not disputed, and the case hinged on Singh’s intentions at the time.
On Thursday, the court heard that Singh was watching TV the day before the crash, May 1, 2019, and started hearing voices.
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He said he was shocked at his thoughts, but when he looked outside, he saw he was still on Earth, and then he took his clothes off and walked outside naked.
Singh was hospitalized and given anti-psychotic medication and was later released.
The next day, May 2, he said he felt clear-headed and not hazy.
The agreed facts in the case included that Singh was travelling north at 120 kilometres per hour in a 30 km/h zone on Highway 99 in a Porsche Cayenne at the time of the crash.
He struck the rear of the Toyota Sienna that Cheung was driving back to Canada after fuelling up on the U.S. side of the border.
The collision pushed the Sienna into a flowerbed 65 metres from the point of impact, where the minivan burst into flames.
Cheung was killed on impact, the court heard during the trial, however, it was later determined that Cheung died in the fire and did not suffer any broken bones.
Singh was still in the driver’s seat of his vehicle when witnesses arrived, and Canada Border Services Agency members took him into custody at the scene.
A mechanical inspection found both vehicles were in good working order, and a blood test found under 10 milligrams of alcohol in Singh’s system.
The court heard testimony from its first witness, a CBSA officer who rushed to the scene following the collision.
He told the court Singh had scratches on his hands and the back of his head and described putting him in handcuffs.
Singh, he testified, was co-operative but wouldn’t answer questions and was muttering incoherent phrases about being God and repeating “no, no, no” over and over.
Dr. Robert Miller, a psychologist who testified in the case, said “Mr. Singh was experiencing delirium or a brief psychotic disorder. One possibility for this reocurrence is that the Haldol and diazepam he was administered at the Swedish Medical (Center) on May 1 wore off, and this may have contributed to the reocurrence of the symptoms.
“Mr. Singh continued to drive to the border. This disturbance of Mr. Singh’s mental state probably affected his judgement, his ability to attend, his ability to concentrate and his ability to form memories such that his mind was not operating properly.”
Miller said that by the time Singh reached the border, his mental state was profoundly impaired which probably caused him to cause the collision with Cheung’s vehicle.
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