Charges laid in Highway 17 crash that killed horse and buggy driver

Charges have been laid against a commercial driver and a southern Ontario company more than two months after a fatal Highway 17 crash involving a horse and buggy.

Charges have been laid against a commercial driver and a southern Ontario company more than two months after a fatal Highway 17 crash involving a horse and buggy.

An Orillia man, 56, and Hunt Trucking Limited from Mulmur have been charged in the crash that killed the 29-year-old horse and buggy driver, Ontario Provincial Police announced in a news release Friday.

Both vehicles were headed east when the commercial vehicle struck the horse and buggy around 5 p.m. Dec. 4 at Birchland Camp Road in Huron Shores, about 110 kilometres east of Sault Ste. Marie.

The buggy driver sustained extensive injuries and was taken to hospital by paramedics, where he later died. The horse was critically injured in the crash and later put down.

A total of 32 charges, including careless driving and driving a commercial vehicle with a major defect in it, have been laid against the commercial truck driver who was licence was suspended at the time of the crash.

Hunt Trucking is charged with three dozen charges, including 15 counts of allowing a person to drive a commercial vehicle not in accordance with regulations, 16 counts of failing to monitor a driver's compliance, four counts of requesting, requiring or allowing non-compliance and allowing the operation of a commercial vehicle with a load not secured as prescribed.

Both the company and driver are scheduled to appear in court April 3 in Sault Ste. Marie.