A Highway Traffic Act charge has been dropped against a Sarnia man who crashed into a fence and a set of bleachers at Norm Perry Park, forcing the premature removal of the section of seating.
Sarnia police and firefighters and Lambton paramedics were called on Oct. 26 to the sports facility between Exmouth Street and Highway 402 after a black car crashed through a chain-link fence and into the bleachers that Wednesday morning. Police said there were no serious injuries, but the driver was taken to hospital and a medical incident may have been involved.
The damaged bleachers were initially cordoned off with yellow tape and taken down later that fall. At $90,000 ask was included in January in the approved-in-principle city budget to replace it and two other sets of bleachers in the park that a city staffer called very old.
A Sarnia police spokesperson later confirmed police charged a 34-year-old Sarnia man with driving while suspended under the Highway Traffic Act, but declined to identify him. But short records show it was Alexander Buliga, 34, who was facing the same charge from another incident six months earlier on April 9, 2022.
However, following multiple appearances in Sarnia’s provincial offenses court, the charge linked to the crash into the bleachers was dropped Thursday after Buliga pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving without a driver’s license connected to the April 2022 incident.
The court did not hear details of what happened other than it took place on East Street in Sarnia.
Municipal prosecutor Jodi Burness asked for a $260 fine, plus court costs, which was approved by justice of the peace Helen Gale. Then she turned her attention to the October charge.
“Seeking that matter to be marked as withdrawn,” Burness said.
“Part of a global resolution the other charge, sir, has been withdrawn at the request of the prosecutor,” Gale said to Buliga.