The man who was behind the wheel in a 2016 crash that killed a teenage Langley girl has pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Jason Blanthorne, 24, was initially charged with the more serious criminal code offences of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
He’ll face a $1,500 fine and a driving suspension to be determined by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.
The family of Lidia Ramos, the 15-year-old who died in the crash, left the court room in tears.
“$1,500. So that’s $100 per year that my daughter was alive. Thanks. I don’t get to see my daughter go to law school, she wanted to become a judge,” said Ramos’ mother Angela.
“I would have been satisfied with one week in jail,” she said. “Just one week.”
The crash on a Mission, B.C. logging road early in the morning of March 5, 2016 left Ramos dead, and a second teen seriously injured.
Blanthorne, who was not impaired by drugs or alcohol, was driving with three passengers when he lost control of the vehicle and went down an embankment, according to an agreed statement of facts read to the court on Wednesday.
The group had been at Stave Falls prior to the crash.
In its submission to the court, Crown said the death resulted from a “momentary lapse of judgment” on Blanthorne’s part.
Blanthorne also apologized to Ramos’ family.
“I’d like to say that nothing I can do will bring Lidia back but I wanted to say I am truly sorry,” he told the court.
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