Trucker found guilty of fatal highway crash in 2023 a second time

A judge has reaffirmed a Manitoba truck driver’s guilt in a fatal highway collision, by concluding that the man ignored multiple warning signals prior to the February 2020 crash.

“This was more than a momentary lapse of attention,” Court of King’s Bench Justice Shane Perlmutter said in a written decision in which he convicted Sukhbir Singh of one count of dangerous driving causing death. “It was a failure to observe multiple warnings over several hundred feet of highway.”

Singh was behind the wheel of a heavy-duty semi-trailer truck, heading south on Highway 13 when he drove through a stop sign at the intersection of Highway 2 and collided with 34-year-old Andrew Labossiere’s eastbound pickup truck, sending it into a ditch. Labossiere died at the scene.

Singh was convicted of dangerous driving causing death following a trial in 2023. That conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered after the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled the trial judge, when delivering his decision, made repeated reference to a photo exhibit showing a reduced speed-zone sign. That particular sign, however, was on Highway 2, not Highway 13, the one Singh was driving on.

Singh admitted at his first trial he drove through the stop sign but argued he was not guilty of dangerous driving as his driving did not represent a “marked departure” from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person.

Singh argued it was dark, he had reduced his speed, was unfamiliar with the road, was not distracted by his cellphone or intoxicated, and signs warning of the intersection were close together, all pointing to a “momentary lapse of attention,” not the marked departure required for a dangerous driving conviction.

At Singh’s retrial earlier this year, defence lawyer Kate Smith argued an RCMP collision reconstructionist made several critical errors, including mistakenly documenting road signs and rumble strips that were on the opposite side of the highway to which Singh was travelling – errors that went undiscovered until after the officer had testified at Singh’s first trial.

A California collision reconstructionist called by the defence testified there was too much missing information to conclude Singh was responsible for the crash.

Police examined the scene for the first time only after first responders had left and then three years later, after the second trial was ordered, court heard.

“You have to rely on data collected by experts at the scene at the time,” Babak Malek said. When scene analysis is delayed, “there is always the potential that some of the evidence will be spoiled.”

Crown attorney Nick Reeves argued uncontested evidence before the court clearly established Singh’s guilt.

Court heard Singh was travelling 100 km/h on Highway 13 when he started reducing his speed in advance of the intersection at Highway 2. A blinking red light sat atop a stop sign at the intersection, which was further illuminated by road lights. Rumble strips and a warning sign situated 250 metres before the intersection notified drivers of the upcoming stop sign.

Singh had turned off his cruise control and reduced his speed to 86 km/h when he drove through the intersection. It was only then that Singh applied his brakes.

“In my view, a reasonable person driving a semi-trailer truck, which takes longer to stop than a sedan… would have been highly attentive to their surroundings and would have observed the sign warning of the stop sign and other warnings,” Perlmutter said. “Mr. Singh’s failure to perceive and react to all of the warnings was a marked departure from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person in Mr. Singh’s circumstances.”

Singh will return to court for sentencing at a later date.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca