Truck driver in Broncos crash apologizes to families
Posted Jan 31, 2019 10:25 am.
Last Updated Jan 31, 2019 2:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MELFORT – The truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash says he takes full responsibility for the collision that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
“It happened because of my lack of experience and I’m so, so, so, so sorry,” Jaskirat Singh Sidhu said as he stood and faced the victims’ families in a Melfort, Sask., courtroom on Thursday.
Sidhu told the families he can’t imagine what they are going through and realizes he took “the most valuable things of your life.”
WATCH: What the Humboldt crash truck driver saw–and missed
The judge said she will hand down her sentence on March 22.
Sidhu’s defence lawyers made no recommendation as to what the sentence should be for their client. The Crown has suggested 10 years in prison.
Sidhu blew through a stop sign and drove into the path of the junior hockey team’s bus at a rural intersection last April.
READ MORE: Humboldt sentencing hearing tough on loved ones
Mark Brayford told court his client was inexperienced, didn’t know the area and was focused on tarps that had come loose on the trailers he was hauling.
“I’m disappointed to say that I can’t tell people what happened,” Brayford said. “He simply doesn’t know.
“He beats himself up everyday. ‘Why didn’t I see the signs? Why didn’t I stop?”‘
Brayford said Sidhu didn’t know what had happened when he crawled out of his turned-over semi that had been T-boned by the Broncos bus.
“I got out of the truck and I heard the kids crying,” Sidhu told the families, who hugged each other and quietly left the courtroom after he finished speaking.
Yesterday, the father of one of the players killed held a brief but emotional meeting with Sidhu, calling it a powerful and cathartic experience.
WATCH: Families of Humboldt victims seek solace at crash site memorial
The maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death is 14 years and 10 years for dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Reporter Courtney Theriault is at the hearing. Follow along below.
