Saint John fugitive in head-on crash pleads guilty to 14 charges
A year after a stunning head-on collision near the Fox Farm exit on the four-lane highway near Saint John, a court heard Monday the crash was caused by a fugitive federal inmate, who was driving a stolen truck against the flow of traffic while trying to outrun police.
The collision happened the afternoon of Oct. 7, 2019, a month after Squires failed to report by curfew to the Parrtown Community Correctional Centre, where he'd been serving the remainder of a two-year sentence for several offences, including assault.
Squires would later confess that he had been driving the stolen truck, and while he was driving, he had let his passenger inject him with fentanyl.
The day after the crash, Liam Grass told CBC News he thought he had witnessed the police pursuit that preceded the collision.
His video from Oct. 7 shows police throwing a spike belt onto the eastbound lane near the Dolan Road Irving and a truck being pursued by a police van.
Grass continued to record what happened next, as the truck crossed the median and drove into the traffic headed for the city.
Body cam footage
There was no reference to that video in Monday's hearing.
Instead, prosecutor Christopher Ryan played video of the wreckage captured by the body camera of a member of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force.
Ryan told the court that Squires crossed the median twice on Oct. 7 while trying to evade the police.
The first time, Squires ended up driving east toward Sussex, against the traffic headed for Saint John.
Then it's believed Squires somehow turned around, possibly near the weigh station, and ended up heading back into Saint John, travelling west in the eastbound lane, where he crashed into Dave Duffy, who was driving to a service call in Rothesay.
While resting at home the day after the crash, Duffy told the CBC it all happened so fast, he couldn't register the colour of the truck or how many people were in it.
He had no idea who hit him.
He said the truck hit his Ford Transit van with such force, he spun 180 degrees and the front end of his vehicle was smashed in.
He said it was the airbag and the seatbelt that saved him.
Tested positive for multiple drugs
A blood sample taken from Squires after he was taken to the hospital, tested positive for methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.
The court also heard that Squires eventually wrote an apology to Duffy but that he only did so last month.
Meanwhile, it seems, his criminal behaviour picked up again in July and September.
At Monday's hearing, he pleaded guilty to numerous other charges, including a July 7 charge of possession of cocaine.
He also pleaded guilty to charges dated July 9, including operating a vehicle while being pursued by a police officer and failing to stop as soon as was reasonable in the circumstances.
He also admitted to stealing a Toyota Corolla from a west side gas station on Sept. 10 and trying to escape police by driving on the wrong side of Highway 7.
The court heard that almost led to another collision.
"Based on what I've heard, this is horrendous," said provincial court Judge Andrew LeMesurier.
"I think we need a pre-sentence report."
LeMesurier noted that Squires had acquired a long police record and wanted to know more about "what brought this on."
He also wanted more information to determine whether Squires, at age 25, could be rehabilitated.
And he made it clear he was concerned about how the public had been put at risk by what Squires had done.
"These are serious, serious charges," said LeMesurier. "You'll be looking at a long sentence."
Squires is due back in court to hear that sentence on Nov. 12.
