A Petrolia man charged earlier this year with dangerous driving and failing to remain at a crash following a collision on Petrolia Line has been convicted instead of careless driving.
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The two-vehicle crash happened on April 13, around 7:30 pm on Petrolia Line between Tank Street and First Avenue, Lambton OPP said at the time.
“It was reported that a vehicle struck a pickup truck and left the scene. The occupants of the pickup truck that remained on scene were not injured,” police said at the time.
Craig Nesbitt, 50, from Petrolia, was arrested the next day and charged with dangerous driving under the Criminal Code and failing to remain at a crash under the Highway Traffic Act, police said.
At Sarnia courtroom recently heard the other vehicle was a Ford Mustang, which was speeding, left the scene and went through two stop signs. Police initially couldn’t find it or the driver that night.
“They did so because Mr. Nesbitt went to the Petrolia detachment of the OPP (the next day) and gave a bailed statement and confessed to the whole thing,” assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Jones told the judge.
Nesbitt recently pleaded guilty to careless driving, a related offense to failing to remain, and was fined $2,000 and put on probation for one year. The dangerous driving charge was dropped.
“Mr. Nesbitt is remorseful for his actions and he does apologize,” paralegal Samantha Greaves said. “This was a one-off situation.”
Nesbitt declined a chance to address the judge. He has no criminal record, but the judge said his driving record was aggravating.
“Which is really quite horrendous, quite frankly, sir,” he said.
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