Petition started after man acquitted in 2015 dangerous driving death
After a traffic accident in 2015 claimed the life of a 68-year-old Vancouver resident, and the driver of the other vehicle was acquitted of dangerous driving charges last month, the victim’s daughter has started a petition for stiffer driving penalties.
In a change.org post, Monique Hui, writes that the driver of the other vehicle “killed my father.”
The petition stems from an incident in November, when according to a police report at the time of the incident, the victim was making a left turn in his red Suzuki to head eastbound on 41st Avenue, when he was hit by a grey Audi heading north on Oak Street.
That victim was 68-year-old Vancouver resident Dr. Alphonsus Hui. The driver of the Audi was Richmond resident, Ken Chung, who was ultimately charged with dangerous driving causing death as a result of the incident.
The case carried on until May of this year, writes Monique, and in the end Chung “was acquitted and walked away from the courthouse without so much” as a slap on the wrists.
“All of this despite dashcam video evidence which captured the collision, testimony from multiple eyewitnesses, and engineering reports,” she writes. “Never mind the fact that Mr. Ken Chung was going 140 km/h through the intersection and 119 km/h when he hit my dad,” she writes.
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Monique has stared the petition with the goal of bringing about stiffer penalties in cases such as this.
The judge in the case, Judge Gregory Rideout “deemed that the 140 km/hr speed was a “momentary acceleration” and “there is at least a reasonable doubt that such conduct amounted to a marked departure from the standard of a reasonably prudent driver,” she writes.
Since the verdict, Monique adds, “our family has been in shock.”
And it’s that verdict that has caused Monique to start the petition.
My father was robbed of seeing my brother get married and continuing his unyielding service to his more than 1000 patients and multiple non-profit organizations that he gave his time and energy to,” she writes. “My twin baby boys will never get to meet their grandfather.”
The petition is directed toward BC Attorney General David Eby.
“We are concerned the government and our courts are not doing enough to keep drivers who speed excessively off our streets,” she writes. “Ken Chung is still driving and it’s only a matter of time that he and others like him will hurt or kill again. I pray it is not your family or loved ones. The pain is too much to bear.”
And the petition is gaining serious traction online.
At the time of this writing, the petition, which has a goal of 25,000 signatures, already has 19,950 names on it.
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