A woman’s decision to drive an ATV while impaired led to an accident in Muskoka Lakes and severe injuries for a passenger, a Bracebridge court recently heard.
Sharlaine Fawthrop, 39, pled guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm stemming from an incident that occurred May 17, 2023.
The court heard that on that day, at roughly 3:30 p.m., Bracebridge OPP was called to an ATV collision involving two women on Torrance Road.
EMS arrived to find one woman lying in the middle of the road and a damaged ATV nearby. The woman was airlifted to St. Michaels Hospital with a brain injury.
Court heard that Fawthrop was driving the ATV at the time of the incident. Fawthrop had been swerving the ATV in what appeared to be an intentional manner when it flipped. Neither woman was wearing a helmet, and both were knocked unconscious. Fawthrop woke up and walked away from the scene, a witness told police.
The same witness said he had lent the ATV to the women that day but claimed he had never met them before.
K9 units were called in to help track Fawthrop, which eventually led them to the home of the witness who had lent Fawthrop the ATV.
Fearing for Fawthrop’s safety in light being knocked unconscious, the police entered the home and found her in the basement, attempting to barricade the door shut.
At 8:05 p.m., blood samples were taken, and Fawthrop registered more than double the legal limit of alcohol in her system. Court heard Fawthrop was a suspended driver at the time.
A pre-sentence report will be conducted, and the matter will be returned to court for sentencing.
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People who choose to be high and drive need to be responsible for the cost of first responders time, medical costs for the injured and have suspended licenses until they can prove that they have been in rehab and have been clean for over a year. It is time we had a justice system that endeavours to make the guilty pay for their crime in this country.
So let’s take a vote. Is this dumbest, stupidest, most irresponsible excuse for a human being that you have ever heard of and does she deserve the slap on the wrist that she will get from the court? Now let’s think about the equally, but now brain damaged other person. I feel sorry for her in a way, let’s hope she will recover.