Dump truck driver fined for 2019 death of pedestrian

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2021 (1883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jennifer Darling wasn’t solely responsible for a fatal Winnipeg construction site accident, but 57-year-old Tamara Orellana would still be alive were it not for her “momentary lack of attention,” a judge heard Tuesday.

Orellana died April 1, 2019, after she was run over by a dump truck removing debris from a demolition site at Garden City Shopping Centre on McPhillips Street.

Darling, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of careless driving causing death and was fined $1,500.

“There is no question this was a senseless act, a senseless situation,” provincial court Judge Cindy Sholdice said. Orellana’s death represents “a tragic loss that is going to effect so many lives forever.”

In June, the company in charge of the demolition, Bulldog Demolition and Excavation Inc., was fined a total of $25,000, after it pleaded guilty to one count of failing to ensure the safety of people not in its employ (an offence under the Workplace Safety and Health Act).

Court heard Bulldog did not develop a safety plan specific to the demolition site and at the time of the accident did not have flag people in place who could see all sides of the truck as it backed into the site.

“The unique aspect of this is that this wasn’t all of Ms. Darling’s making, but she did contribute, and that is what she has to be sentenced for,” said Crown attorney Adam Gingera.

Orellana was approaching a mall entrance on the other side of the demolition site when she came to be walking along the passenger side of Darling’s dump truck, court was told.

Darling was being guided into the site by a lone excavator operator who did not have a full view of both sides of the truck; Darling made a wide, forward right-hand turn and pulled Orellana under the wheels of the truck, Gingera said.

Orellana suffered “catastrophic injuries” and died at the scene.

A subsequent investigation found the passenger-side mirror on Darling’s truck was positioned inward, creating a huge blind spot.

“This wasn’t a deliberate oversight from Ms. Darling, but it was certainly not the standard that was expected,” Gingera said.

Darling, who was licensed to drive a dump truck just two months prior to the accident, had been working at the demolition scene for 11 days and knew it was a high traffic area for pedestrians, Gingera said.

“It was fresh in her mind what her professional obligations were,” he said.

Darling has been on medical leave since the accident and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, her lawyer, Stacey Soldier, told court.

“The idea of getting back into a truck… even as a passenger” causes panic attacks, Soldier said.

“It’s quite clear she has to find a different kind of work,” she said. “It’s something she thinks about on a daily basis… She doesn’t think this is something she is going to get over for the rest of her life.”

Orellana was from Chile and came to Canada 11 years ago “for a better life,” her sister wrote in a victim-impact statement provided to court.

Orellana’s son, Oliver Munoz, participated in Tuesday’s hearing by phone from Chile.

Her death “has left me with the sensation of a wound that will never close,” Munoz wrote in a victim-impact statement. “My sense of emptiness remains with me when I wake up every day knowing I will never see her again.”

Since the accident, Bulldog Demolition has changed its practices so construction vehicles in such situations are guided by two flag people on either side, company owner Eric Fleury told court in June.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca