A Lantzville man who struck a woman and two dogs with his SUV while he was trying to retrieve a bottle of pop that fell out of a cup-holder won’t serve jail time.
Joel Francisco Salazar, 35, was given a 10-month conditional sentence, a $1,000 fine and a two-year driving ban by Judge Tamara Hodge in Nanaimo provincial court for the hit-and-run in March 2022.
He’s expected to serve six months of house arrest and a four-month curfew.
Salazar pleaded guilty in August to operating a motor vehicle that was in an accident, knowing or being reckless as to whether the accident resulted in bodily harm and failing to stop to provide his name or offer assistance after the accident.
Court records show that on March 4, 2022, Salazar was driving a 2014 GMC Terrain on Lorenzen Lane in Lantzville, a narrow rural road.
It was a clear and sunny day, and Geoff and June were walking single file with their two dogs on the opposite side of the road, travelling in the same direction as Salazar.
While Salazar was driving along the lane, a bottle of pop fell out of a cup-holder and Salazar went to retrieve it, Hodge said.
The SUV veered across the lane and struck June and the two dogs, causing June to be thrown into a ditch. Salazar stopped briefly, then fled, leaving only tire tracks and pieces of a vehicle headlight at the scene.
Hodge said Salazar saw white feathers — which turned out to be from June’s down vest, which had ripped from the collision — and knew he had hit something. “He was in a panic because he did not have a licensed driver with him, as was required by his licence, and fled the scene without confirming what it was that he hit. He assumed it was a dog or a deer,” the judge said in a review of evidence.
Neither Geoff nor June had a cellphone at the time and Geoff had to flag down a passing driver to call 911, Hodge said.
June’s injuries included a broken clavicle, broken ankle, torn knee tendons and a possible concussion.
One of their dogs required knee replacement surgery and had to be hand-fed medication and food for seven weeks.
A written victim statement provided by June, read out in part in court by Hodge, detailed the significant physical and emotional impact the incident has caused her family.
June is now anxious and fearful of vehicles, whether she is in traffic or walking in parking lots, suffers daily from the pain and can no longer walk on uneven ground. As a result, she can no longer go on hikes, walk her dogs or enjoy her rural property, Hodge said. “No sentence will make the victim or her family whole again or take away the pain and suffering that they continue to go through,” she said.
Crown prosecutors had sought six months’ jail, $1,000 in fines and a two-year driving prohibition, pointing to the seriousness of the offence.
The defence argued for a suspended sentence with probation.
In her decision, Hodge said a non-custodial sentence makes sense given that Salazar does not pose any additional threat to the community. “I am of the view the circumstances warrant a jail sentence and that it is appropriate that the sentence be served in the community,” she said.
Hodge said she is sentencing Salazar only for his failure to stop at an accident, not for dangerous driving, impaired driving or for causing bodily harm.
“It was a momentary lapse of concentration on the road when he bent to retrieve the pop can.”
Prior to this case, Salazar had no criminal record, Hodge said.
A Gladue report was prepared to assist the court at sentencing after Salazar pleaded guilty.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Gladue decision said judges must take note of systemic or background factors when determining a sentence for Indigenous offenders in order to address their serious overrepresentation in prison.
The report said Salazar, who has ties to the Snaw-naw-as First Nation through his mother, had a traumatic and difficult childhood “peppered” with physical, emotional and sexual abuse, some coming at the hands of male family members while he was growing up in Lantzville, Nanoose Bay and Mexico.
Substance use was normalized in his family, and Salazar struggled with alcohol addiction while raising his two children, one of whom has significant medical issues that require full-time care.
Salazar, a pipe-layer by trade and primary provider for his family, reported that he had lost his job in part due to the stresses caused by the court case.
He suffers from anxiety and depression and has struggled with substance use, but is regularly attending men’s wellness groups and Alcoholic Anonymous and has expressed remorse for the incident, court documents say.
Salazar will be under 24-hour house arrest for six months and will have to follow a 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for four months after that.
Exceptions to leave his house will only be granted in cases where Salazar has to go to work or attend to medical emergencies.
He will have a three-hour window twice a week to take care of life necessities during his six months of house arrest.
Salazar is prohibited from consuming alcohol or any other intoxicating substances and is banned from entering any establishment with a liquor licence.
He will be required to attend any psychiatric, treatment and counselling programs as directed by his sentence supervisor.
Salazar’s two-year driving ban will begin after he has served his sentence.
Salazar did not speak in court other than to say that he understood the terms of his sentence.
