A Lambton County man has been convicted of failing to remain after police discovered a wrecked and bloodstained car in a ditch earlier this year with no driver in sight.
The crash took place shortly after 4:30 am on July 15, when Lambton OPP officers found a heavily damaged red 2008 Toyota FSC on White Line near Highway 40 in St. Clair Township. Officers noticed swerving tire tracks on White Line leading up to the ditch and evidence the car had rolled over at least once before landing on its tires.
“The driver’s-side airbag deployed and there was blood located on the driver’s side. There was also a strong odor of alcohol coming from the motor vehicle,” assistant Crown attorney Josie Baier said in a Sarnia courtroom.
The car was registered to a nearby resident, who told police Donald Aarssen, a friend who’d been living at his home for the previous seven months, had borrowed it that Thursday night.
“A canine track was requested due to the blood and the knowledge that the driver has (a medical condition),” Baier said. “There was an extensive search done by police and canine.”
About three hours later, Aarssen, 58, was finally found near the crash site – sitting in the passenger’s seat of another person’s car.
“He had the keys to the (crashed) motor vehicle and had blood on his hands, clothes and on the back of his head. There was also a very strong odor of alcohol emanating from his breath,” Baier said.
Despite the alcohol odor, Aarssen was only charged with failing to remain at the scene of a crash and failing to report a crash under the Highway Traffic Act. The Sombra resident recently pleaded guilty in Sarnia’s provincial offenses court to the former charge and was sentenced to a $1,000 fine while the latter charge was dropped.