COLWOOD, B.C. — A court has heard that the man who sped his truck through a red light and rammed an RCMP cruiser, killing the officer inside, had been drinking before the crash and was distraught over the recent suicide of a friend.
Crown attorney Tim Stokes told Kenneth Fenton's sentencing hearing that the man's truck was going between 76 and 90 kilometres an hour when it entered the intersection and crashed into Const. Sarah Beckett's vehicle in April 2016.
Stokes says Fenton's truck was being followed by another RCMP vehicle after that officer noticed the tail lights were out.
Stokes described the crash as an explosion of glass and smoke to a courtroom in Colwood, B.C., full where people are holding tissues and wiping away tears.
Stokes says one witness at the accident scene said he heard Fenton say "one stupid decision."
Fenton pleaded guilty last month to charges of impaired driving and dangerous driving causing the death of Beckett, a mother of two boys who had recently returned the West Shore RCMP detachment from maternity leave.
