Judge convicts man who switched seats with driver after collision that killed cyclist

A Winnipeg man who admitted taking the driver’s seat following a high-speed collision that killed cyclist Rob Jenner has been found guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Lyle Barker-Young, 19, remains free on bail and will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report.

Co-accused Beckham Severight, 20, was behind the driver’s seat of Barker-Young’s leased 2013 BMW sedan the morning of June 6, 2024, racing along Wellington Crescent when he rounded a curve near the intersection at Cockburn Street and collided with Jenner, who was cycling to work in the same lane.

Police arrested the two roommates at their Elmwood apartment later that day. In a police statement, Barker-Young said he told Severight to keep driving after hitting Jenner. They drove a short distance, pulled over and switched seats before Barker-Young drove away without checking on the 61-year-old critically injured cyclist.

“The comments Mr. Barker-Young made in his statement… support that (he) would have known this was a violent collision that must have resulted in at least bodily harm to the cyclist,” provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson said Friday, reading from a 24-page decision.

“Told him to keep driving up a bit. We stopped and I told him to get out and we switched… ’cause I knew he couldn’t f—king drive anymore.… It was my idea to go.”

Severight had only a learner’s permit. Barker-Young had a valid licence and accompanied Severight but did not qualify as a supervising driver.

“So (the collision) happened and (Severight) didn’t know what to do,” Barker-Young told police. “Told him to keep driving up a bit. We stopped and I told him to get out and we switched… ’cause I knew he couldn’t f—king drive anymore.… It was my idea to go.”

Prior to the collision, “we were going too much… like, we were going fast, like, too fast,” Barker-Young, said.

Witnesses in the area at the time said they heard a loud bang and saw Jenner fly three metres into the air before landing on the ground. Witnesses said the car did not slow down or stop after hitting Jenner.

One witness estimated the BMW was travelling 120 km/h when it hit Jenner, which would have been 70 km/h over the speed limit.

Defence lawyers Debbie Buors and Melissa Serbin argued Barker-Young could not be convicted of leaving the scene of an accident because the offence was complete when Severight continued driving after hitting Jenner. By that time, any subsequent direction from Barker-Young to Severight to keep driving was too late to be considered aiding or abetting the offence, they said.

That argument “imposes a narrow and artificial time limit on the decision not to stop that is not present or contemplated by (the Criminal Code),” Carlson said.

“Mr. Barker-Young’s comments (to police) are consistent with him getting into the driver’s seat a short distance from the collision site,” she said. “Once he took over driving, he could have returned to the scene, stopped, provide particulars and rendered assistance. He did not.”

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Jenner’s death sent shock waves through the city’s cycling community and led to calls to reduce the speed limit along Wellington Crescent between River Avenue and Academy Road to 30 km/h.

Severight pleaded guilty last March to dangerous driving causing death and was sentenced to three years custody.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.