B.C. man sentenced to probation for social media stunt

A man who drove a car into B.C.'s Burrard Inlet in a livestreamed social media stunt has been sentenced to one year of probation and will not have a criminal record if he complies with court-ordered conditions.

Jawad Mazen Fawwaz was charged with one count of mischief under $5,000 earlier this year and was handed a conditional discharge in provincial court Wednesday.

The charge stemmed from an incident in March, when Fawwaz was paid to plunge his car into the water off the Rocky Point Boat Launch in Port Moody. Police were informed that the stunt was being live streamed, but by the time they arrived at the scene the vehicle was already fully submerged.

"The individual involved is now potentially both criminally and financially responsible for this act which goes to show that these 'stunts' do have consequences, and hopefully acts as a deterrence for anyone else thinking of doing the same," Port Moody Police Department Const. Sam Zacharias told CTV News Vancouver in an email the morning after the livestream.

The stream was shared by an online personality with more than a million followers on the Kick platform.