MELFORT, Sask. – A truck driver facing charges in a crash that killed three teenagers and seriously injured a highway worker in Saskatchewan is holding off on his plea. Normand Lavoie, 38, was not present when his case came up in Melfort provincial court.
Lavoie, who is from Winnipeg, is charged with criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
READ MORE: Truck driver charged in Sask. teens death makes court appearance
His lawyer says he doesn’t want to proceed until he sees how a similar case involving the death of a flag person plays out in Weyburn, Sask.
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The three high school boys from Carrot River were on their way home from a football training camp in May and were stopped in a construction zone near Spalding when a semi hit their car from behind.
The momentum pushed the car into a second vehicle which in turn hit a flag person.
READ MORE: Charges laid in fatal Sask. highway construction zone crash
Lavoie’s next court appearance is set for Jan. 7, 2016.
The teens, who were students at Carrot River Junior Senior High School, died at the scene. Justin Gaja, 14; Kristian Skalicky, 15; and Carter Stevenson, 17, were all members of the Wildcats football team.
Lavoie and the other drivers weren’t seriously hurt.
In the Weyburn case, Keith Dunford of Regina was found guilty last month of dangerous driving causing the death of a young woman working as a flag person. He is to be sentenced in December.
READ MORE: Sentencing arguments heard for man convicted of killing Sask. flag person
Ashley Dawn Richards, 18, was struck and killed during her first day on the job near the southern Saskatchewan community of Midale in August 2012.
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