Justice delayed for driver charged in 2014 Port Coquitlam hit-and-run

Twyla and Bruce Rickman and their two children walked into the Port Coquitlam courthouse Friday hoping for justice.

The Rickmans will have to wait a few more weeks to see Sean William McAllister sentenced. McAllister is charged in connection with the hit-and-run of Bruce Rickman, a Coast Mountain bus driver.

“It’s difficult. Today we thought would be a door we could close,” Twyla Rickman said Friday.

On July 31, 2014, Rickman was cycling home after finishing a night shift when he was hit from behind on the Mary Hill Bypass. The driver took off leaving Rickman unconscious on the side of the road. More than a week later – and after Rickman’s wife made a heart-wrenching plea for the driver to do the right thing – McAllister came forward to RCMP.

WATCH:  Rickman family makes appeal to driver to come forward in July 2014

The now 29-year-old – who had been out celebrating that night after learning he was at the top of his class in respiratory therapy – was later charged with failing to remain at the scene of an accident, and impaired driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. Rickman, an avid outdoorsman who knew no limits, suffered a catastrophic brain injury. The man who used to climb mountains now has trouble getting up and down the stairs in his own home.

“It’s hard on my body, my head and my brain. I just want to live an ordinary life,” Bruce Rickman said of his life-altering injuries.

Last May, McAllister pleaded guilty to the impaired driving charge. Crown is not proceeding with the charge of failing to remain at the scene of an accident and McAllister maintains he did not see Rickman before or after his vehicle struck him.

At his sentencing hearing Friday, the respiratory therapist apologized to Rickman and his family saying he was truly sorry.

“I wish more than anything I could go back to that night and decide not to have gone home. I wish I had realized what had happened on that corner and been able to help as I know I could have. Since that night any time I am asked to see a patient, from an infant seconds old to an individual perhaps in the last minutes of their lives, they all have the same name – Bruce Rickman. I will go to any length necessary to ensure they receive the best care possible, care I was unable to provide that night.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I wish more than anything I could go back to that night and decide not to have gone home. I wish I had realized what had happened on that corner and been able to help as I know I could have. Since that night any time I am asked to see a patient, from an infant seconds old to an individual perhaps in the last minutes of their lives, they all have the same name - Bruce Rickman. I will go to any length necessary to ensure they receive the best care possible, care I was unable to provide that night."

Both Crown and defence counsel agreed on a sentence of 45 days in jail to be served intermittently to allow McAllister to continue his shifts at University Hospital in Prince George. Judge G. Smith questioned the need for an intermittent jail sentence rather than a consecutive one and, in an unusual move, he adjourned the sentencing hearing after telling the court he is considering a departure from the joint submission.

“I can’t think of another circumstance where a judge has asked us for submissions to explain why the joint submission is appropriate but it’s certainly something the court is entitled to do,” McAllister’s defence counsel Paul Doroshenko said.

The Rickmans believe they are on the path to justice and the judge will make the right decision even though the proposed sentence “doesn’t seem to measure fairly against the amount of suffering that Bruce has,” Twyla said.

Bruce Rickman feels he is already living a life sentence.