A driver who struck and killed a pedestrian who was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk in Lower Lonsdale has admitted in court that he was responsible for the fatal accident, but not that he was impaired by alcohol at the time.
Aldo Franco Trinetti, 50, of North Vancouver, pleaded guilty Monday in North Vancouver provincial court to a charge of refusing to give a breath sample in the case of an accident that results in death. He will be sentenced in January, after pre-sentence reports have been completed.
According to police, 31-year-old Steven Attermann of North Vancouver was crossing Lonsdale Avenue at the Fourth Street crosswalk, just before midnight on March 31, 2016 when Trinetti drove into him.
Paramedics performed CPR at the scene but Attermann later died in hospital.
Trinetti was subsequently charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and refusing to give a breath sample. He was released on bail with conditions that he abstain from alcohol and refrain from driving.
Trinetti entered a guilty plea this week as a trial was about to start.
Outside the court, Crown prosecutor Andrew Cochrane said the guilty plea means Trinetti is admitting responsibility for the accident. “What’s not being admitted is that consumption of alcohol was a contributing factor,” he said.
Cochrane said there was an investigation into impaired driving, and a police officer at the scene asked for a breath sample based on having reasonable grounds to believe that “alcohol may have been in (Trinetti’s) system.”
But because Trinetti refused to blow, there’s insufficient evidence to say Trinetti was impaired, said Cochrane.
Cochrane said that Trinetti will still likely face a jail sentence – but added that sentence will likely be shorter than it would have been if Trinetti had been found to be impaired when he struck Attermann.
Matthew Nathanson, Trinetti’s defence lawyer, declined to comment in advance of the sentencing hearing.
Following the collision that killed Attermann last year, residents in Lower Lonsdale weighed in, saying the street is dangerous to cross, even in ideal conditions, and pointing to a number of cases where pedestrians were hit or had close calls.
Residents said it is difficult to see the crest of the hill where the crosswalk is when driving up Lonsdale, especially at night. They said the crosswalk at Lonsdale and Fourth – and others like it – should be better lit.
Since the accident, the City of North Vancouver has installed traffic bulges, aimed at slowing down drivers, at Lonsdale and Sixth, said Connie Rabold, spokeswoman for the municipality. Next year, the city plans to install a pedestrian-controlled crossing signal at Lonsdale and Fourth, as well as traffic bulges at Fourth and Fifth streets, subject to budget approval, said Rabold.
In September 2016, Janice Attermann, Steven Attermann’s mother, launched a civil suit against Trinetti, the City of North Vancouver and an unnamed man whose vehicle Trinetti may have been driving at the time of the accident. In the lawsuit Attermann alleged the city was partly responsible for what happened by failing to take measures to ensure the crosswalk was safe. In a statement of defence, the city denied there were any hazards or risks present at the intersection and added the city acted “with the standard of care of a reasonably prudent municipality applicable at the time and in the circumstances.”
The civil suit has since been dropped.
