A driver who struck and killed a White Rock father delivering newspapers with his teenage son was sentenced to two years in prison Monday afternoon.
Last month, Allan Simpson Wood pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and an assault charge stemming from the July 19, 2010 incident that killed Bryan McCron.
McCron and his son, Connor, were delivering papers early in the morning on Colebrook Road near 153 Street when Wood’s Chevy Silverado pickup struck their Toyota Tercel.
Wood approached the McCrons’ vehicle as Connor – who was 17 at the time – called 911.
Angry about the damage to his truck, Wood pushed Connor and punched him in the stomach.
McCron suffered a severed aorta in the crash and died later in hospital. The incident occurred less than a week before the 49-year-old father was due to marry his fiancée.
The courtroom was packed with supporters of the victim’s family, who cheered and hugged upon hearing the judge’s sentence.
Speaking to reporters outside court, McCron’s sister, Vicki Macri, said although the family was satisfied that Wood would be going to jail, they felt the punishment did not fit the crime.
“He got two years, but he probably won’t spend that in jail, maybe a third of it,” Macri said. “But it will do for now.”
The court was told that at the time of the crash, Wood’s vehicle was travelling at 101 km/h, more than double the limit.
Wood had a previous impaired-driving conviction in 2002, and did not have a valid driver’s licence at the time of the incident, nor was his vehicle insured.
Additional charges stemming from the South Surrey incident of impaired driving causing death and failure to provide a sample had previously been stayed.
Despite the impaired charges being stayed, Macri said she and her brother’s family will work to get impaired drivers off the road.
“If you shoot someone in the head with a gun, you get 25 years,” she said. “But that’s not the case with drinking and driving. And that needs to change.”
Macri added that she has received support from Markita Kaulius, whose daughter, Kassandra, was killed by a drunk driver in South Surrey in 2011.
“We’d like to see mandatory sentences for driving causing death. It’s a very hard thing to do, it’s a long process. But until my dying day, that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll aim to make the world safer, one little person at a time.”