6-month jail sentence for man who kept driving after striking Fredericton cyclist
A New Brunswick man will spend six months behind bars for not stopping his car after hitting a cyclist along Woodstock Road in Fredericton nearly two years ago.
In addition to his six-month jail sentence, Peter Burrell will be subject to 12 months of probation, and a driving prohibition of three years for failing to stop after hitting Brian Atkinson.
Provincial court Judge Mélanie Poirier LeBlanc delivered the sentence in Fredericton on Tuesday.
"It must be made clear to Mr. Burrell and any like-minded person that the consequences for leaving the scene will be worse than staying and assisting and accepting responsibility," Poirier LeBlanc said.
"If a person thinks for one moment they will be better off by leaving the scene, then there will never be an incentive to remain after an accident. For this reason alone, the penalty must be significant."
Facts of case
At 8:22 a.m. on May 13, 2022, Fredericton police received a call about Atkinson being struck while cycling in front of Cedar Brook Early Learning Centre on Woodstock Road, Poirier LeBlanc said as she reviewed the facts of the case.
Atkinson suffered a broken hip and severe head trauma in the crash, and the driver didn't stop.
Atkinson's pelvis was broken and he suffered head trauma when he was hit while cycling on Woodstock Road in Fredericton on the morning of May 13, 2022. (Jill Peters/Submitted by Brian Atkinson)
Thanks to witness testimony and video surveillance, police determined Burrell struck Atkinson while he was driving to work that morning in a silver Honda Accord.
Poirier LeBlanc said Burrell had been stopped by police about a month earlier for driving while his licence was suspended.
About a month after the crash, police stopped him again for the same reason, and in talking to officers, Burrell said damage on his car was the result of his hitting a garbage bin while driving to work.
Burrell said he returned the next day to the place where he thought he hit the garbage bin — which was also the location of the crash with the cyclist — to retrieve a piece of his side mirror.
On June 15, 2022, police executed a search warrant of his car and determined that paint found on it matched the paint from parts of Atkinson's bicycle.
Poirier LeBlanc said it was evident that Burrell knew he hit something, and even if he thought it wasn't a person, should have stopped to make sure.
"The location [of the crash] is a residential street in the city of Fredericton," she said. "He had an obligation to stop and verify that he didn't hit a person. He did not do that."
Sentence seems fair, says victim
Atkinson was in court for Burrell's sentencing, and said he thinks the judge's decision was fair.
He said as a cyclist, he often hears stories of others getting hit, with there being little or no consequences for the driver involved.
Atkinson said he thinks the judge was fair in sentencing Burrell to six months in jail, adding he hopes it sends a message to other drivers. (Aidan Cox/CBC)
This time, he said he hopes a jail sentence sends the message that there are consequences for people who do what Burrell did.
"It should at least send a message to people in the community," Atkinson said. "You have to take care of people."
In December 2016, Ellen Watters, a 28-year-old competitive cyclist, was struck by a driver while on a training ride in Sussex.
The death of the rising star in Canadian professional cycling sparked rallies by cyclists across New Brunswick, and ultimately led to the passing in 2017 of Ellen's Law, which requires drivers to stay a metre away from cyclists when overtaking them.
Atkinson said he's seen drivers largely follow that rule but still encounters others who disregard it.
"Those people on bicycles, they're your doctor, your plumber, your teacher. They're not just some kind of weird insect.
"They're actually people you might even know, so give them a break."
