Driver pleads guilty in B.C. hit-and-run that killed 3 international students
A driver charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run in 2019 entered a guilty plea in a B.C. courtroom Friday.
According to a news release from RCMP, 33-year-old Kamloops resident Reid McNight pleaded guilty to two charges related to the crash.
The fatal crash between a car and McNight’s pickup truck happened on Nov. 3, 2019, around 1:40 a.m. on 1st Avenue and Battle Street.
RCMP previously said that the pickup truck was travelling at a high rate of speed and ran a stop sign, then collided with the other vehicle.
Officials said when officers arrived on scene, two of the car's four occupants were already deceased, while a third succumbed to his injuries a week later. A fourth occupant had non-life threatening injuries.
All four were Nigerian students studying at Thompson Rivers University.
The three students who died in the crash were identified by RCMP as 22-year-old Daniel Okocha, 27-year-old Feyisola Adebowale, and 30-year-old Oluwatosin Adeojo.
Police said after the crash the driver of the pickup truck fled the scene before officers arrived, but was located later that day and arrested.
Mounties said McNight's charges were sworn in almost a year later, following a complex investigation involving several police agencies.
"This was an extremely tragic event for the Kamloops community, particularly for the student body at TRU and its Nigerian population,” Supt. Sydney Lecky of the Kamloops RCMP said in the news release. "Although we know nothing can undo what’s been lost with the lives of these men, or repair the sorrow and heartache suffered as a result, we hope today’s outcome will bring some solace to the victims’ families, friends, and community."
McNight has been sentenced to three years in jail, which will begin immediately.
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