Keith Fraser (Vancouver, Province) – An RCMP officer who was criminally charged in connection with a collision that killed two people has pleaded guilty to a lesser offence under the Motor Vehicle Act.
In April 2008, Burnaby RCMP Const. Petina Kostiuk was charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death following the October 2007 accident that claimed the lives of Albert Haczewski, 27, and Koyo Walter Hara, 26.
Kostiuk, who at the time of the charges was off duty on a medical leave, was driving a police cruiser with full emergency equipment activated through Kingsway and Royal Oak Avenue on her way to investigate a report of a suicidal woman when her vehicle slammed into a vehicle carrying the two men.
The Chevrolet, being driven by Haczewski, was T-boned in the collision. The two men, lifelong friends, died of their injuries.
A jury was selected last week and the trial was expected to get under way in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver today.
But on Monday morning, Kostiuk and her lawyer made a brief appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court and Kostiuk re-elected to be tried by judge alone. Kostiuk then entered a guilty plea to one count of driving without due care and attention under the act.
“The Crown has accepted that that is an appropriate outcome, on all of the facts of the case,” David Butcher, Kostiuk’s lawyer, said outside court.
Kostiuk, who remains employed with the RCMP, is scheduled to appear in provincial court on Thursday for sentencing.
The driving offence carries a maximum jail sentence of six months and a maximum fine of $2,000. Crown counsel Sandra Cunningham had no comment outside court.
“My office won’t be commenting until after the sentencing and then we’ll have a comment.”
RCMP Sgt. Rob Vermeulen said Kostiuk’s duty status remains unchanged and an internal code of conduct investigation is ongoing. The impact of the guilty plea on Kostiuk’s employment would have to await the results of that investigation, he said.
In December 2007, Haczewski’s widow and his parents filed a statement of claim in B.C. Supreme Court against Kostiuk and the RCMP.
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