More than eight years after York Regional Police Const. Garrett Styles was killed in a collision following a traffic stop on Hwy. 48 in East Gwillimbury, the man who caused his death was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to two years probation today.
“While this result is not what many of us were hoping for, after eight gruelling years navigating the criminal justice system and consulting closely with the Crown, this outcome seemed to best serve all involved,” York Regional Police Chief Eric Jolliffe said in a statement today.
“We will continue to support Garrett’s family and his many friends.”
York Regional Police Association president Rob O’Quinn said that first-degree murder convictions of on-duty officers should remain as convictions and those convicted of killing an officer in the line of duty should be prosecuted to the “full letter of the law.”
“These laws exist to protect our men and women in uniform who, each day, put their lives on the line to keep our families and communities safe,” O’Quinn said in a statement today.
However, he added that it was important that the Styles family be able “to finally conclude this horrible, traumatic, drawn-out court process; we fully support them”.
“The Crown advised the family that this was the best possible resolution given the unique circumstances of this case and it would spare them the trauma of another trial,” he added.
The Crown consulted extensively with the family, who felt very strongly they could not endure another trial, Chief Jolliffe said.
“It also considered the impact of a second trial on witnesses, many of them first responders,” he added.
Last October, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered a new trial for the man, who was 15 at the time of the incident in June 2011 and can only be identified as SK, following an appeal of his 2015 conviction of first-degree murder and conditional supervision order of nine years.
The trial judge had found SK, who was rendered quadriplegic in the collision, was effectively serving a life sentence as a result of his physical state and that he had been rehabilitated.
However, the appeal court found the trial judge erred in failing to caution jurors that they should consider the accused’s age and level of maturity in determining if he knew his actions were likely to cause Styles’ death.
According to Jolliffe’s statement, after several judicial pretrial meetings, both the Crown and SK agreed on the terms of today’s guilty plea to manslaughter and resulting sentencing conditions.
The probation sentence includes several conditions on his operation of a motor vehicle.
SK, who did not have a driver’s licence, had taken his parents’ van late at night in June 2011 to go driving with friends when he was pulled over by Styles for speeding.
The court heard Styles sought to impound the van and repeatedly asked the teen driver to step out of the vehicle, eventually reaching inside to unbuckle his seatbelt.
The van suddenly accelerated and dragged the officer before veering off the road and landing on top of him.
“The families of the victims should be our first priority. Putting them through a prolonged court case with an endless series of appeals in what should have been an open-and-shut case does a disservice to the community,” said O’Quinn.
