An Indian-origin truck driver has been charged over a fatal crash that killed sixteen people, including members of a junior Hockey team, three months ago in Canada.
29-year-old Jaskirat Sidhu, the alleged driver of a semi-trailer that collided with the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos on April 6, was arrested from his home in Calgary on Friday morning.
Mr Sidhu faces 16 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and 13 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.
Ten players, aged between 16 and 21, died in what’s described as one of the worst disasters in Canada’s sporting community. The head team coach and support staff were also among the dead. Several others who were injured during the crash are still recovering from their injuries.
Mr Sidhu was not hurt but he did receive trauma counselling in the aftermath of the crash.
He was remanded into the custody of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and will appear in the court this week.
RCMP Commanding Officer Curtis Zablocki and Superintendent Derek Williams said in all 120 investigators carried out the investigation of the crash, including collision re-enactment.
The investigators used 3D technology and unmanned aerial vehicles to gather additional evidence.
Source: AAP
“[We] have looked at every aspect of the collision, including the speed of the vehicles, point of impact, position of the vehicles, impairment, road and weather conditions and witness evidence. Every piece of information was carefully examined. Our investigators were thorough in their systematic analysis of the evidence,” the officers said.
"Whatever happened, happened for a reason," crash survivor and former Bronco Ryan Straschnitzki told . "His intention wasn't to go out and hurt us that day, but that mistake is obviously going to change his life and changed all our lives."
Dangerous driving causing death carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in Canada.
Mr Sidhu, according to the CBC News, studied in Chandigarh in India between 2008 and 2012 before he moved to Canada on a student visa in 2013. He was working for a Calgary based trucking company at the time of the crash.
