Brian Rice and Kyle Maness stopped in at a south Sarnia convenience store for a snack around 6:30 pm on Boxing Day 2020.
Half an hour later, Maness was pronounced dead.
The pair of then-31-year-old lifelong best friends were involved in a violent two-vehicle crash on Confederation Street just a few meters from the Circle K they bought food from. Maness had no vital signs after he was cut by firefighters from the demolished black 1999 BMW he was riding in and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Sarnia’s hospital.
Rice, who was driving, was rushed to hospital in critical condition. He recovered, although he has a serious brain injury, and was charged in April 2021 with dangerous driving causing death. Last week in a Sarnia courtroom, just a few weeks past the two-year anniversary of the fatal Christmastime crash, Rice pleaded guilty to the charge.
His sentencing was adjourned for at least two months to get a pre-sentence report and statements from Maness’ family on how his loss has impacted them. Maness left behind many family and friends, including a daughter “who was the light of his life, according to his obituary.
In the meantime, the court heard the gruesome facts linked to the collision. Maness got in the front passenger’s seat of Rice’s car – he didn’t immediately put his seatbelt on – as the pair left the convenience store and gas bar near the busy intersection of Confederation Street and Indian Road South.
Rice pulled out of the south end of the parking lot onto Confederation Street.
“While revving his engine loudly, spinning the tires, accelerating very rapidly while turning right to go westbound,” assistant Crown attorney Aniko Coughlan said. “As Mr. Rice continued to accelerate in a dangerous and unnecessary manner he caused his vehicle to fishtail, which turned into a spin.”
The car reached at least 70 kilometers per hour – the limit there is 50 km/h – amid the spinout.
At the same time, Tad Stewart, a 49-year-old Bluewater Installations Ltd. employee, was driving east on Confederation Street towards Indian Road South in a white company pickup truck. He was going only 45 km/h, but was unable to avoid the oncoming spinning BMW and smashed into the passenger’s side.
“Mr. Stewart blacked out,” Coughlan said, noting he had to climb out of the passenger’s side of the truck after regaining consciousness and was later diagnosed with a concussion.
The gruesome crash – weather was not a factor – was captured on Bluewater Power’s video surveillance system from its nearby Confederation Street headquarters, which was entered as evidence in court. So was what Sarnia police officers found in Rice’s pants’ pocket and the car’s center console: 0.1 grams of purple fentanyl and three unknown white pills.
Rice, who went to St. Patrick’s Catholic and Sarnia Collegiate high schools, had multiple drugs in his body when he arrived at hospital including methamphetamine, ecstasy and fentanyl. But he did not plead guilty to any drug-related charges.
He did, however, plead guilty to failing to comply with an undertaking for driving again.
Rice was released on a police undertaking following his April 2021 arrest, which included a driving ban. But he was pulled over shortly before 10 am on June 8, 2021, behind the wheel of a black 2002 Chevrolet Silverado at Cardiff Drive and Murphy Road and arrested again.
Rice, now 33, also pleaded guilty last week to unrelated charges of possession of stolen property worth less than $5,000, fraud, and break, enter and theft. He had a prior criminal record including theft and drug possession in 2015 – he got a brief stint in jail – and another short stay behind bars in 2016 for breaking his house-arrest order.
The lawyers did not say what sentence they’ll be suggesting when the case returns to court later this spring, although defense lawyer James Guggisberg said during a previous court appearance will “most certainly be in the penitentiary range.”