A 19-year-old man has been banned from driving for 10 years and will serve two years in prison in relation to a fatal rollover crash that occurred in Abbotsford earlier this year.
Brandon Mitchell James Hayes was sentenced Oct. 7 in Abbotsford provincial court after previously pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and possession of stolen property over $5,000.
Additional charges of theft over $5,000 and dangerous driving causing bodily harm were stayed.
The crash took place just before 4:30 a.m. on March 10 in the area of Wells Line and Smith Line roads on Sumas Prairie.
Hayes was driving a 2003 Toyota Tacoma pickup that had been stolen from Abbotsford three days before the crash. He was travelling west on Wells Line Road when he veered off the road and through a fence, coming to rest in the front yard of a home.
Hayes was still in the vehicle when emergency crews arrived, as was a male passenger in the back seat, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
A 14-year-old girl who had also been in the vehicle was found a short distance away and was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A third man was located in a nearby outbuilding and was not seriously injured.
Police at the time described the crash as “pretty catastrophic” and said it was fortunate there had not been more deaths.