The case of a B.C. resident facing numerous charges including impaired driving causing death has been adjourned for a plea hearing in July.
Sean Terrance Letwin, a 30-year-old from Beaverdell, B.C., was charged with the offence — as well as impaired driving over the legal limit and driving while unauthorized — following a collision that claimed the life of a local man.
Emergency responders had received a report of the crash at about 11:40 p.m. on Friday, April 29. The Sundre and Olds RCMP detachments, as well as EMS and the Sundre Fire Department, attended the scene on Highway 27 about 15 kilometres east of Sundre. Despite being airlifted by STARS to a Calgary hospital, local resident Henryk Yonza, 47, succumbed to his injuries.
Police said the preliminary investigation had revealed that an eastbound vehicle, driven by Letwin, crossed over the centre line and collided with a westbound motorcycle, which Yonza was riding on his way home from Olds.
Letwin was arrested without incident at the scene and charged with the offences, said police.
Following a judicial interim release hearing, Letwin was released on cash bail with several conditions, including abstaining from alcohol and not being found in the driver's seat of any vehicle, said police.
“These are the sad reminders of what happens when people drink and drive,” said the Sundre RCMP detachment's Sgt. Jim Lank.
“Everyone makes the choice whether to drive after they've been drinking — even though they don't intend to cause an accident, especially a fatality — but they have the choice.”
This is a stark reminder of why it's so important for people to understand that they might not be fit to drive even if they don't feel intoxicated after a few drinks, and that they should have alternate plans to arrive safely at their destinations, said Lank.
Following the Monday, May 16 court date in Didsbury, Letwin's case was adjourned to Monday, July 4 for a plea hearing.
