A company supervisor was sentenced to five years in prison after a fatal crash that killed one of his drivers.
The Alliston, Ontario crash happened back in 2020, but 48-year-old supervisor Milton Urgiles was sentenced on Tuesday, February 18th.
According to CTV News, 53-year-old dump truck driver Denis Garant had texted Urgiles the night before the crash. In the text, Garant had voiced concerns about an issue with the dump truck’s steering. Urgiles ignored the text. The following day, Garant crashed the same dump truck after blowing a tire, sending the truck into a ditch. Garant died in the wreck, leaving behind a wife and son.
Urgiles later testified that he had checked the vehicle prior to the crash, and blamed the wreck on driver error. However, an expert witness claimed that there was an obvious alignment issue with the dump truck, and says that the vehicle should not have been on the road due to the poor condition of at least one of the tires.
The judge noted that if a mechanic had inspected the truck, it would not have been used that day and “the collision would not have happened.” The judge also highlighted an “egregious” commercial vehicle driving record by Urgiles, along with poor record keeping.
“May God forgive me once again,” Urgiles said in court. He was sentenced to five years in prison for a “high degree of moral culpability for this grave offence.”