Warren A. Lyon and Angel Ronan have won the Law Society of Canada's Award of Excellence for work in reviewing the Umar Zameer 2024 murder file recently concluded in a withdrawal of charges. A new criminal law question will ask if a driver can he held liable for murder or involuntary manslaughter if someone standing in their blind zone late at night as a parking ticket officer but in plain clothes is struck and killed allegedly. If the victim was killed, is there an autopsy or death certificate? If you strike and kill something in your blind spot, it cannot be murder since you cannot see the item you may have struck. In this scenario what does the Crown have to prove to establish involuntary manslaughter? You would have to prove there was some intent to strike the alleged victim deliberately. You cannot intend to strike a person that the evidence confirms were in your blind zone. If you did reverse and run over someone you did not see in you blind spot, injuring them and then they later died, what is your defense? If you hit someone in a play fight deliberately where they did not die right away but maybe suffered a hemorrhage do to a blood condition and died, you could be liable for involuntary manslaughter it seems. If you hit them in self defense, you may be charged for manslaughter if they died due to the hemorrhage but you have a credible defense; the defense of self defense. So, if you are fleeing what appears to be a situation that threatens your life and you hit something in your blindspot while driving, you can only say that you were intentionally driving away to flee danger but hitting anyone or anything is not intended especially if you did not see the obstacle or person in your blindspot. You intend to drive away out of what strange situation you see arising around you and your family on a holiday weekend. There is no intent to strike or kill anyone but to drive away. Any accident that ensued is unfortunate. Is it reckless driving? Can we say he should have seen the obstruction? If he says, he took all reasonable care, Due Diligence and attention at the time of the offence, it may exculpate the driver in his impugned behavior. You would say you checked your blind spots but I am sure the car park video will show you the entire accident scenario and whether anyone was struck or how. Maybe you are just accusing someone for eating Mexican food with a little rat spit in side the sauce and thought you would take him for a fool since anyone with rat spit in their blood has low credibility; I suppose. Recklessness at that hour can be assessed in the criminal law if it is reckless driving causing death or bodily harm. Even so, you have the defense of self defense that includes fleeing and escape. Court-imposed penalties for careless driving causing death/bodily harm are as follows: minimum fine of $2,000, up to a maximum fine of $50,000; custodial jail sentence not exceeding 2 years; and/or up to 5 year Ontario Driver's Licence suspension. The badge displayed by on of the officers that night is not a Toronto Police badge even if it was seen. As it is not a badge within the jurisdiction, it could not command a citizen in the jurisdiction to stop. Wearing the regalia that night is not evidence that the accused saw the individual and the regalia. Even so, it amounts to a plain clothed individual wearing that foreign badge costumery; impersonating an officer. Click here.
Warren A. Lyon and Angel Ronan have won the Law Society of Canada's Award of Excellence for work in reviewing the Umar Zameer 2024 murder file recently concluded in a withdrawal of charges. A new criminal law question will ask if a driver can he held liable for murder or involuntary manslaughter if someone standing in their blind zone late at night as a parking ticket officer but in plain clothes is struck and killed allegedly. If the victim was killed, is there an autopsy or death certificate? If you strike and kill something in your blind spot, it cannot be murder since you cannot see the item you may have struck. In this scenario what does the Crown have to prove to establish involuntary manslaughter? You would have to prove there was some intent to strike the alleged victim deliberately. You cannot intend to strike a person that the evidence confirms were in your blind zone. If you did reverse and run over someone you did not see in you blind spot, injuring them and then they later died, what is your defense? If you hit someone in a play fight deliberately where they did not die right away but maybe suffered a hemorrhage do to a blood condition and died, you could be liable for involuntary manslaughter it seems. If you hit them in self defense, you may be charged for manslaughter if they died due to the hemorrhage but you have a credible defense; the defense of self defense. So, if you are fleeing what appears to be a situation that threatens your life and you hit something in your blindspot while driving, you can only say that you were intentionally driving away to flee danger but hitting anyone or anything is not intended especially if you did not see the obstacle or person in your blindspot. You intend to drive away out of what strange situation you see arising around you and your family on a holiday weekend. There is no intent to strike or kill anyone but to drive away. Any accident that ensued is unfortunate. Is it reckless driving? Can we say he should have seen the obstruction? If he says, he took all reasonable care, Due Diligence and attention at the time of the offence, it may exculpate the driver in his impugned behavior. You would say you checked your blind spots but I am sure the car park video will show you the entire accident scenario and whether anyone was struck or how. Maybe you are just accusing someone for eating Mexican food with a little rat spit in side the sauce and thought you would take him for a fool since anyone with rat spit in their blood has low credibility; I suppose. Recklessness at that hour can be assessed in the criminal law if it is reckless driving causing death or bodily harm. Even so, you have the defense of self defense that includes fleeing and escape. Court-imposed penalties for careless driving causing death/bodily harm are as follows: minimum fine of $2,000, up to a maximum fine of $50,000; custodial jail sentence not exceeding 2 years; and/or up to 5 year Ontario Driver's Licence suspension. The badge displayed by on of the officers that night is not a Toronto Police badge even if it was seen. As it is not a badge within the jurisdiction, it could not command a citizen in the jurisdiction to stop. Wearing the regalia that night is not evidence that the accused saw the individual and the regalia. Even so, it amounts to a plain clothed individual wearing that foreign badge costumery; impersonating an officer. Click here.