Teen urged driver to blow stop sign before truck killed 2 students

The second person charged in connection to a crash that killed two Saskatoon teens has admitted encouraging the driver of a stolen truck to flee from police before the fatal collision.
 
It was quiet in the courtroom as the 18-year-old girl slowly sat down in the prisoner’s box, looking stunned as she glanced toward her family members. 
 
She pleaded guilty to five charges on Wednesday: being an occupant in a motor vehicle knowing it was taken without the owner’s consent, two counts of being a party to the offense of dangerous driving while evading police causing death, one count of being a party to the offense of dangerous driving while evading police causing bodily harm and breach of an undertaking.
 
The charges stem from May 5, when the girl, who cannot be identified because she was 17 years old at the time, was a passenger in a stolen truck. She admitted encouraging the driver to run a stop sign before they smashed into a vehicle at the intersection of 22nd Street and Avenue M.The driver, 21-year-old Cheyann Chrystal Peeteetuce, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death on Dec. 3. 
 
Three Bethlehem High School students were inside the other vehicle. Seventeen-year-olds James (J.P) Haughey and Sarah Wensley were killed, while a third teenager survived.
 
The victims’ parents were in court; some wept as the girl entered her pleas. They said they weren’t ready to comment on the case.
 
Before leaving the courtroom, the 18-year-old offender clasped her hands around the glass of the prisoner’s box and closed her eyes. Sentencing for the teen was adjourned to Jan. 8, 2015 to allow for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, the maximum sentence for flight from police causing bodily harm is 14 years, while the maximum sentence for flight from police causing death is life in prison.  

bmcadam@rawlco.com

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