Posted on 06/20/2014 8:45:35 AM PDT by rickmichaels
MONTREAL – A woman who stopped to help a group of ducklings on the side of the road has been found guilty of causing the deaths of a motorcyclist and his passenger daughter who slammed into her parked car.
Emma Czornobaj was convicted Friday by a jury on two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing death.
Czornobaj, 25, was charged in the deaths of Andre Roy, 50, and his daughter Jessie, 16, on a Montreal-area highway.
Czornobaj appeared to turn and wipe away a tear when she heard the verdict delivered.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Eliane Perreault polled the jury, which entered its fourth day of deliberations on Friday, on their verdict and they reported they were unanimous.
Czornobaj will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing on Aug. 8.
Criminal negligence causing death carries a maximum life sentence while the charge of dangerous driving causing death comes with a maximum of 14 years in jail. Czornobaj has no previous criminal record.
Roy’s motorcycle slammed into Czornobaj’s car, which was stopped in the left lane of a provincial highway in Candiac, south of Montreal.
His daughter was riding on the back of the motorcycle when the collision happened on June 27, 2010.
The trial heard that Czornobaj, who had three years’ driving experience at the time, had stopped to rescue ducklings on the side of the road.
The professed animal lover told the court that she did not see the ducklings’ mother anywhere and planned to capture them and take them home.
Emma Czornobaj
Only question I have for her is “Why a duck?”
She deserves every minute of jail time they give her. Stopping in the left lane?
This verdict suggests that the motorcyclist was operating his bike in a reasonable,responsible and lawful way.Assuming that he was,in fact,doing so I have no problem with the charges...or the verdicts.
professed animal lover?....................
Maybe the Motorcyclist should have been watching the road.
HE was responsible for the accident, not this lady.
The ultimate fruits of excusing lack of culpability on the part of the actor is excemplified here. But then this is Canada and Canadian law on such things may be as bizaar as their view on self defense and freedom of expression.
What a DUMB ASS!
Innocent!
Be kind to your web footed friends,
For that duck may be somebody’s mother
She lives in a hole in a swamp
Where the weather is always damp
You may think that this is the end:
Well it is, but to prove that we’re all liars
We’re going to sing it again,
But only this time we will sing a little higher
This piece indicates that she could get life.Yes,what she did was beyond reckless and stupid but there's no intent on her part that *I* can see of her intending to cause a death.The sentence of life should be reserved for those who deliberately...and with premeditation....cause the death of another.
Five elements are required to establish a prima facie case of negligence: the existence of a legal duty to exercise reasonable care; a failure to exercise reasonable care; cause in fact of physical harm by the negligent conduct; physical harm in the form of actual damages; and proximate cause, a showing that the harm is within the scope of liability.The criminal negligence most likely adds some form of intent.
(1) She should NOT have stopped in the left lane.
(2) A driver is responsible for not driving faster than his ability to see the road ahead and stop in time if there's an obstruction on the road.
The motorcyclist would have been just as dead if there was a disabled car, a dead deer, a tree branch, or some item which fell off the back of a truck. He should not have been moving faster than his ability to notice an obstruction and stop safely.
Too many drivers just have faith that the road ahead is clear of hazards even if they can't see it.
Next time you're on a hilly road, observe all the skid marks just on the other side of hills near intersections. Often times it's school buses that are being hit. It's so bad that many governments are now putting up signs warning that a bus stop is ahead on the other side of a hill or around a corner.
We had a new driver here in Georgia who planted (stopped) herself in the merging ramp at the entrance/junction split of I-75 and I-575.... she ended up causing the death of a motorist. She just effing STOPPED.... waiting to merge into the heavily trafficked merge where she had plenty of room and distance to do so while moving..
Would you say the same for a person whose car died and was stopped in the same manner?
As long as she is imprisoned for an appropriate time, I don’t care. She should pay heavily for what she has done.
I am willing to leave the length of the imprisonment up to the dictates of the applicable law.
No, and you know better. Exigent circumstances BEYOND one’s control is a far cry from what she did. The argument is ludicrous.
The motorcyclist was a biggest moron.
Cars stall in the middle of the road. Treads of tires come off and lay in the road. An animal could have been in the road.
It's stupid to drive so fast that you can't stop for what you can't yet see.
An all male jury...
A few buttons undone on that white blouse....
This verdict could have gone in her favor.
So, how are the ducks?
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