Chirping his wheels in Chester is going to cost Jesse Leo Hamm nearly a year’s worth of weekends.
Hamm was driving a red sedan on Central Street on the evening of Sept. 29, 2017 when he “‘peeled his wheels’ and a friend asked him to give the car a ‘chirp,’ resulting in him applying acceleration to the vehicle causing him to lose control of the vehicle,” Bridgewater Provincial Court Judge Paul Scovil said in a written decisions released Wednesday.
“The Hamm vehicle collided with a second vehicle before coming to a stop. Accident reconstruction indicates that Mr. Hamm was travelling at 111 kilometers per hour prior to the accident.”
The speed limit in the area was 50km/h.
“Of his two friends in the vehicle one dislocated his shoulder while the other suffered significant brain injury,” said the judge. “That individual had to undergo inpatient rehabilitation which included speech therapy and physiotherapy. He continues to suffer lingering effects from the injury including issues with short-term memory.”
Hamm had been drinking with friends on the night in question. But tests showed he was near or just under the legal blood alcohol limit. He had also consumed some cannabis.
Police charged him with two counts of operating a motor vehicle in a manner that was dangerous to the public thereby causing bodily harm. Hamm pled guilty last fall.
The 20-year-old, who has a Grade 10 education, works at Deep Cove Aquatic Farms Ltd.
A restorative justice report on Hamm said “he accepted responsibility for his actions and was prepared to meet and hear from those impacted by his actions,” said the decision.
The Crown asked for between six and eight months of jail time, followed by two years of probation and a five-year driving ban. “The defence stressed the positive aspects surrounding the accused and suggest that an appropriate penalty would be a 60 to 90-day intermittent sentence,” said the decision, dated Aug. 13.
Scovil handed him a 90-day intermittent jail sentence.
“He is young,” said the judge. “He has taken all the steps necessary and available to him to ensure that he leads a different lifestyle .... Taking him completely out of society for six months would almost certainly affect his current employment as well as ongoing therapy he is involved in.”
Hamm must also serve three years of probation where he has to refrain from consuming booze or pot. On top of that, the judge banned him from driving for five years.
