The investigation into the Humboldt Broncos bus crash is complete.
Earlier this morning the Saskatchewan RCMP made an arrest and laid charges in relation to the April 6 accident.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, a 29-year-old from Calgary, Alta., was charged at approximately 10:00 a.m. at his Calgary home on the morning of July 6 with 16 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and 13 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily injury.
“I know it’s been difficult for many to await the outcome of this investigation, the time it took to do this work, this important work was necessary,” RCMP Commanding Officer, Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki told those assembled for the press conference.
RCMP Major Crime Unit Officer in Charge, Superintendent Derek Williams described the charges as “serious criminal code charges.”
“In order to lay these charges we’ve acquired evidence that a motor vehicle was being operated in a manner that’s dangerous to the public. Now that the charges are laid we move to the next stage in the process. Our investigators will continue to liase with the crown prosecutions office as we have done so over the past three months,” said Williams.
Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death can bring upwards of 14 years in prison, while dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm can bring upwards of 10 years in prison, said Williams.
Dangerous driving is a separate charge from driving without due care and attention, with the biggest difference between the two being dangerous driving carries a criminal charge, while driving without due care is a traffic violation, said Williams.
A number of elements make up what is included in a dangerous driving charge, said Williams, and while he could not get into specifics regarding this case, he did say that some of those elements include a “marked departure of care expected from a driver.”
“It’s the circumstances of the evidence in the investigation and our consultation with the crown that led us to laying criminal charges in this case.”
With the sheer volume and attention placed upon the investigation, a number of investigators were called in to assist with the investigation, said Williams, including 20 core investigators as well as an additional 100 others as required.
“They have assisted in this investigation through its entirety. The expertise from our investigators from forensics, forensic collision reconstruction team and Major Crime Unit have been critical as we’ve analyzed and collected evidence”
The investigation was quite complex, said Williams, which saw the RCMP perform a collision reconstruction in April, more than 60 interviews, collect more than 6,000 photos, analyze all of the documentation available, including the drivers log book, and used 3D technology to capture evidence through unmanned aerial vehicles.
Investigators also looked at every aspect of the investigation, said Williams including the speed of each vehicle, point of impact, position of the vehicles, impairment, road and weather conditions, and witness evidence.
“Every piece of information was carefully examined. Our investigators were thorough in their systematic investigation of this evidence,” said Williams.
Due to the size and complexity of the investigation, Williams said there was a significant amount of aspects involved in the investigation, resulting in the announcement coming exactly three months to the day after the accident occurred.
“We have to collect expert reports so that process took some time. We can appreciate that the public wanted an answer sooner but we did have to work through our investigative process to gather that information,” Williams said.
“We relied on expertise for the traffic collision reconstruction. That did take a fair amount of time. We received that information late last week, which we then shared with the Crown office.”
With the investigation now in the hands of the crown, Williams said he could not get into too much detail regarding the investigation, but said that impaired driving charges were not laid and said the investigation was focused solely on the accident, and did not include the truck company.
After the completion of the investigation, Williams said they swore the information for the charges in yesterday (July 5), and informed the families of the charges earlier this morning (July 6).
Families were gathered in both Saskatoon and Edmonton, where they were connected via video link to the RCMP, who broke the news, said Williams.
Sidhu is currently in police custody, and is scheduled to appear in Saskatchewan provincial court the week of July 9.
While final court dates have not yet been confirmed, the RCMP did note they will be providing an update as soon as that information has been confirmed.
