Semi driver sentenced to 3 years in death of 3 Carrot River teens

The truck driver who killed three Carrot River teens after his semi rear-ended stopped cars in a construction zone in 2015, was handed a three-year federal sentence today.

Normand Lavoie, 41, was sentenced in Melfort Court of Queen’s Bench Monday. He was sentenced to three years for the death of each teen and one year for the injury of a flag person which he will serve concurrently. Lavoie was also dealt a five-year driving probation following his release. 

Family members of the three boys killed wept as the sentence was handed down. Lavoie looked visibly shaken.

“No sentence will relieve the families of their pain,” judge Mona Dovell told the court. She described it as a “particularly difficult” decision despite her decades of service on the bench.

Justin Gaja, 14, Kristian Skalicky, 15, and Carter Stevenson, 17, were on their way home from a football training camp May 3, 2015, when the incident occurred outside the village of Spalding, roughly 50 kilometres south of Melfort.

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Lavoie’s semi pushed the teen’s car into another vehicle, which then struck a flag operator. All three teens were killed and the 21-year-old flagger, Samuel Fetherston, was seriously injured.

The Crown was seeking a six-year sentence, citing the number of fatalities, but the defence argued for two years plus a day.

When speaking with the media, Crown prosecutor Tyla Olenchuck said she cannot stress enough the importance of the public to feel safe in construction zones on highways.

“Driving is a privilege, not a right and people need to take care,” she said.

The judge cited three aggravating factors in her decision; the death of three innocent teens and injury of a flag person, the fact Lavoie was a professional truck driver, and the accident occurred in a construction zone. 

Mitigating factors included Lavoie’s low risk to re-offend, his remorse, a clean driving record and strong family support.

Standing in for Lavoie’s defence lawyer Mike Nolan, was Tim Nolan. In a brief statement, he said the incident was etched into Lavoie’s mind forever. He did not provide details on if an appeal for the case will be made.

“It is not a happy day for anyone,” he said.

According to an agreed statement of facts read during sentencing arguments in August, Lavoie claimed he was on “auto pilot” when the teens were killed. He did not reduce his speed when he entered the construction zone, despite six signs alerting him to slow down.

Lavoie stated “with it being Saskatchewan, it’s flat and kind of just go into auto pilot”

He pleaded guilty in May to three counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The court had previously learned Lavoie lost his mother and grandmother in a similar incident when he was young. This motivated him to become a truck driver so what happened to him would never happen to another family. To this, he said he had “failed catastrophically.”

In victim impact statements from the families, the most harrowing came from the mother of Justin Gaja who said, “the day I now look forward to, is the day I take my last breath.”

Lavoie hoped he could be transferred to a penitentiary close to his family in Winnipeg, where he is originally from. It will be up to Corrections Canada to approve the request.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr