Prison term for blasting through stop sign, killing 82-year-old

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/04/2025 (204 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba man who drove drunk and blew through a stop sign at 100 km/h, killing an 82-year-old grandmother has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

“What I see before me is an individual without a criminal record who made a tragically criminal decision that day,” provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson said before sending 30-year-old Alexander Joseph Grogan into custody.

“That (decision) was made not in a split second,” Eyrikson said. “This tragic criminal decision started when he decided to consume alcohol… and continued when he got behind the wheel.”

Grogan was driving a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado on the afternoon of March 11, 2023, when he sped through a stop sign at the intersection of Provincial Road 415 and Road 3E near Teulon. He crashed into the driver’s side of a 2022 Chevrolet Equinox, killing rear seat passenger Marilyn Warkentin.

An agreed statement of facts provided to court said Grogan, prior to the collision, had been at a gender reveal party north of Teulon when he agreed to drive a male party attendee who had too much to drink back to his home in Stonewall.

Data retrieved from the Silverado showed Grogan was driving 100 km/h an instant before crashing into Warkentin’s vehicle and had not applied his brakes.

The stop sign was “clearly visible and unobstructed,” said the agreed statement of facts.

“It is almost inexplicable why someone would not have tried to stop at the stop sign,” Eyrikson said.

After the collision, Grogan’s passenger ran toward Warkentin’s vehicle and administered CPR to the badly injured woman, but could not detect a pulse, said the agreed statement of facts.

Paramedics were unable to revive Warkentin and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Warkentin’s son, who was driving the Equinox, and her husband, a passenger, were both injured and treated at hospital.

Court heard Grogan had a blood-alcohol level 25 per cent over the legal limit (.08) for driving.

Grogan’s lawyers, Matt Gould and Keenan Fonseca, filed pre-trial Charter challenges arguing over admissibility of evidence in the case. Eyrikson rejected them, after which the defence lawyers invited the court to enter convictions for one count of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

“This is not a guilty plea, it is a recognition that the evidence in the matter was against Mr. Grogan,” while still allowing him an avenue for a possible appeal, Eyrikson said.

At sentencing, the court gallery was filled with family and supporters of both Warkentin and Grogan.

Victim impact statements provided to court testified to the “anguish and horrific hurt” suffered by Warkentin’s family, Eyrikson said.

Warkentin’s death “deprived (her) family of their matriarch” and set off “emotional trauma devastating to the entire family and community,” Eyrikson said.

“While the words can’t offer much, I hope at the end of the day that this process can provide at least some modicum of peace to you,” he said.

A pre-sentence report provided to court said Grogan, an electrician by trade, has shown remorse for his actions, sought out mental health services following the collision, has quit drinking and is considered a low risk to reoffend.

Grogan declined an opportunity to address court or apologize to Warkentin’s family, prompting a rebuke from Eyrikson.

“I, of course, would have liked you to say more in the circumstance, but the family should take some small modicum of understanding that the pre-sentence report speaks very clearly to you showing remorse” Eyrikson said. “I hesitate to say this is a formal apology offered, because it is not.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca