Speeder going 140 km/h on Oak who killed someone acquitted
 

This is why we will continue to see asshats driving like they own the road. WTF is this ... what more do you need for a conviction? Is this the Philippines or something where you can pay off the judge if you have enough $$? If anyone can offer an explanation of logic to this ... please do.

Woman says justice denied in death of her husband in Vancouver crash | Vancouver Sun

“Where is justice?”

That is the question Josephine Hui has been asking since last month when the man charged in connection with her physician husband’s death in 2015 was acquitted. It is a decision she says is “absurd and ridiculous” and that she now wants to see appealed.

Alphonsus Hui died at age 68 after the driver of an Audi slammed into his Suzuki on Nov. 14, 2015 at the intersection of West 41st Ave. and Oak St. in Vancouver. Police estimated that the driver who hit him had been travelling at more than 140 km/h before the crash.

Ken Chung, then 35 and of Richmond, was tried for dangerous driving causing death. He was acquitted on May 25.

The judge concluded that “the momentariness of the accused’s conduct in excessively speeding is insufficient to meet the criminal fault component and he must be acquitted.”

Never stopped the police from handing out speeding tickets. But when it's time to really do something, they fail us. :seriously:

"dangerous driving causing death"

Why didn't they charge with manslaughter. 140km/h is almost 3 times the speed limit. :mindblown:

He was caught excessive speeding again after he killed someone? Lol this guy has major psychological issues and should be in an institution.

we need batman

or dexter

dexter might be better.

My parents were personal friends with the victim. He loved to sing in choirs and ballroom dance. It's a shame to have no justice in the end. Rip.

This is the problem and why someone can drive 140 km/hr in a 50 zone and kill your son/daughter/mother/father/wife and get next to no jail time.

I always remember a case Canada Day 2011 where a motorcyclist was killed by a driver who crossed the center line on TCH in Langford. The driver Tracy Dawn Smith was high on cocaine, drunk and in a rage.

She was given one day in jail and three years probation. Eventually she got two years in jail after Crown took the case back to the BC Court of Appeals.

For killing someone. While drunk and high and crossing the center line.

More details:

Tracy Dawn Smith Breach of Probation Court Date Monday in Surrey

How is there no established case law with virtually identical circumstances where the defendant is found guilty of dangerous driving causing death?

So now if I go crash into someone doing 90/hr over the speed limit and kill them I will use this case to support my pursuit of an acquittal? Dafuq?

Thats the first thing I thought about. Going forward we now have precedence for lenience on cases like this. Perhaps some lawyers can chime in.

There must be more to this story that I'm not understanding.. maybe they were going with too aggressive charges? I don't think 'momentariness' of an act ever gets you off when you killed someone..

Get punished for doing something potentially dangerous via tickets, points, losing licence, etc without actually hurting anyone.

Kill or seriously injure someone while doing it, barely get any additional punishment.

The guy who killed the cop in Victoria while drunk and trying to evade police got 4 years. And he’s on trial for another drinking and driving charge (crashing his vehicle while trying to evade a road block with a woman in the car) while serving that sentence.

Sounds like the victim wife is better off getting into her car and plowing the guy over. All good, she will get slap on the wrist.

Our fucked up justice system...

The softness of our courts is absolutely incredulous.
I have a personal connection to this as Dr.Hui was actually my physician since birth. What a time the family must be going through to have someone taken away like that and zero meaningful repercussions from their actions. This incites me so much I'm beyond words.
What will it take for us to wake up and start punishing people that excessively speed? I'm all for having fun behind the wheel as a RSer but as of now it feels like the wild West out there both with our lax court systems and insurance.

I couldn't find an answer to my question, but did the guy who died pull out into an intersection illegally? Did he have the right of way? Because all things are pointing to he shouldn't have been in the intersection at the time he was hit. That is the only way I can see someone being acquitted. With that said the blame doesn't solely fall upon the victim but it would definitely give some insight into how a verdict like that came to be. Everyone seems to have these hardline stances on how they feel yet I don't see any actual facts on what took place that led to the accident. Without that it's tough to have an opinion.

^ This... it’s cuz he turned left in front of the Audi if I remember correctly... the law never cares how fast the other car is going or whatever they will just say he should have seen him... we all know it’s bullshit but I think that’s the missing info

Even if he had a green light, he should still be "at fault" if he was going 140km/h through an intersection. People cant be expected to tell a car is coming that fast from 2-3 blocks away as they are making a turn. Stupid icbc

Should appeal and use Ken Chung's getting caught excessively speeding in 2017 as evidence in having no remorse for his actions aka murder/manslaughter and negate the argument of "momentary" lack of judgement.

That would make sense, and could likely explain what the judge meant by "momentary"... that is, Dr. Hui happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time by turning left at a green light.

I am not a MVA lawyer, but my assumption is that had speed NOT been a factor, let's say Chung was driving at 60 km/h through a green light, and hit and killed Dr. Hui (very possible depending on size, age, structural integrity etc. of the two vehicles involved), he would not be found guilty of "causing death". If Dr. Hui did not tragically die, he in fact would have been found at fault by ICBC for not yielding the right of way. It's possible that the judge viewed the excessive speed as secondary to the fact that Dr. Hui was turning left without yielding to oncoming traffic. Was speed a factor? Absolutely. But I am assuming the judge is agreeing that is the left-turning driver's responsibility to gauge the speed and distance of oncoming traffic.

Yes, Ken Chung is a piece of shit for excessive speeding not just once but twice and also because he killed an innocent individual... and let's face it, the leniency showed by our justice system means he will probably end up speeding again... but I think it's important to consider all of the factors involved here.

As other people above have mentioned above it has to do with right of way.

There's also more details here:
https://thebreaker.news/news/audi-speeder-not-guilty/

Transcript of the court case here
https://www.scribd.com/document/381217405/R-v-Chung

From what I can tell, the judge and defense state that anyone turning (in this case Dr. Hui) must yield and ensure it is safe before turning and right of way is given to the individual going straight. They couldn't definitively prove Dr. Hui had his signal on, and that Chung also had apparently tried braking so it proved he was at least attentive and not inattentive.

I would still point out Chung was going nearly triple the speed limit which had to have have played in a factor in the accident regardless of who had right of way.

Also there's this part that pisses me off:

"... observed the Audi to be “in a hurry” causing him and another driver to apply their brakes. He later saw the Audi behind him while he was driving at 50 km-h until 42nd Avenue, when the Audi passed him at a high speed, in the curb lane between 42nd and 41st before the collision.

Crown counsel Jocelyn Coupal submitted that Chung had been overtaking vehicles while driving in the curb lane, came within a half-second of rear-ending a right-turning vehicle in the curb lane in front of him, and did not see or could not have seen Hui’s vehicle in the intersection. "

The defense lawyer must be a god.

Even with all this extra information, if I was judge, I would still ban Mr. In a hurry from driving at least a year and throw him in jail for 30 days to slow his ass down in life.

What i'm getting from it is he was speeding up, slowing down, speeding up etc. It sounds like he was behind the witness speaking, and eventually tried to speed past the guy. It sounds that in this case another car was in the lane he changed into and quickly moved back into the original lane which was blocked by the witness travelling 50km/hr only to hit the victim. If this is the case, a perfect example of why people should move over from the left lane to the right lane when going slow compared to the flow of traffic.

This is really an unfortunate situation imo and sucks for everyone involved.

That's why we need self driving cars. So people can't speed like this. Or have AI in the car that prevent people form going over 10km/hr on the road speed limit they are on.

Our law is bunk for these kinds of things... Speeding is one thing but when you kill someone speeding and not getting punished it ridiculous...

His actions caused death. It could be reasonably assumed the death wouldn't have if he wasn't driving triple the limit. If he's unable to be punished accordingly for negligence and manslaughter, atleast ban him from driving for the remainder of his life. Trade for ending another's life.

He's out there driving, possbly right now as we speak, and probably and most likely speeding too. If he killed someone and still did excessive speed limit afterwards, who knows how his mind works.