A 25-year-old man charged with impaired driving causing death made a first appearance in provincial court Monday.
Sean Vincent Tomlin is scheduled to appear next on Jan. 10. He was given time to consult a lawyer. He faces charges of impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and causing an accident resulting in death.
Tomlin is charged in the death of TRU student Ben Kirkey, also 25, following a shooting accident at Scuitto Lake this spring that led to a tragic car accident en route to hospital.
RCMP obtained a search warrant earlier this year to get access to Tomlin’s blood samples taken at Royal Inland Hospital. A witness on May 26 this year came across Kirkey and Tomlin, both ejected from a rolled Dodge pickup at the intersection of Robbins Range Road and Campbell Creek Road.
In the information to obtain the warrant, RCMP said Tomlin, laying unconscious, had a strong odour of alcohol.
The accident led to Kirkey’s death. Police believe Tomlin was driving at high speed on the forestry roads in an attempt to meet an ambulance en route. Kirkey was hit by a shotgun blast during skeet shooting at a stag party.
“According to RIH personnel, Kirkey would have lost the use of his arm from the elbow down, but would have survived the gunshot wound,” RCMP stated in the information to obtain the warrant.
The allegations have yet to be proven in court.
