The verdicts have come in against both of the drivers accused in the June 2015 crash that led to the death of Chestermere youth Jaydon Sommerfeld.
“It’s something that we’re glad is over, no matter how it turned out,” said Kenton Sommerfeld, Jaydon’s dad.
“Nothing’s going to change that he’s gone,” he said.
Shelley Innes pleaded guilty to the charge of Fail to proceed safely after a stop at intersection and was sentenced to a five-day driving suspension and $1,150 fine.
Mario Scarpelli pleaded guilty to the charge of Careless driving and was given the maximum fine of $2,500, ordered to make a $1,000 donation to a charity of the Sommerfeld’s choosing and was given a five-day driving suspension.
“As disappointing as this is, at least it’s something,” said Kenton.
While the court cases are now finished, the devastating and lasting consequences of that accident that took their son’s life continue to haunt the Sommerfelds.
“We were incredibly disappointed with the real trivial charges they ended up getting,” said Kenton who has his son’s Acura and part the lyrics of Jaydon’s favourite song tattooed on his arm.
“That’s his car and we did lots of work on it so I figure it’s going to be there forever for me,” he said.
In addition to, what are in Kenton and his wife Sheri’s minds light sentences, the fact neither driver spoke in court to take responsibility for their actions hurt the family.
“Neither one of them said a word to us in the court,” said Kenton.
“They had a chance, she declined and Scarpelli never said a word…that really hurt, for them not to even acknowledge…what happened and what they caused,” he said.
With the court proceedings over and the verdicts part of the public domain, both Kenton and Sheri feel it is important to share how this has ended.
Kenton explained that both Scarpelli and Innes were charged under the traffic safety act and not the criminal code due to a lack of evidence for more serious charges.
From the legal standpoint, the fact that Jaydon was killed and his girlfriend, Marina Laycraft was injured didn’t have any bearing on the case.
“It was irrelevant that a 17-year-old died,” said a frustrated Kenton.
“Based on that accident, they had to look at what that person did, what happened and the fact that Jaydon died, they had to completely ignore,” he said.
From the agreed statement of facts read out in court, the family does believe that Innes was not blatantly negligent in the first collision.
They don’t feel the same way of Scarpelli’s role in the second collision with their son’s car.
“He was going 100ish, 120 kilometres an hour, didn’t touch his brakes didn’t…attempt at all to slow down or steer away or anything,” said Kenton.
“There’s no way that, if he was paying any attention at all could not see that,” he said.
While the investigation showed that no attempts to slow or swerve were made, no evidence was found to prove distracted driving in the case.
It also found that Jaydon did nothing wrong.
Sheri said her son “did everything in his power,” to avoid the initial collision.
The family feels that the system has let them and their son down with the charges and sentences in this case.
Despite the disappointment, the Sommerfelds had nothing but good things to say about the prosecutors and RCMP who worked the cases.
“They were really good, they communicated with us, they called us they kept us in the loop,” said Kenton.
“They spent a lot of time because they felt bad to on how this all turned out too I think,” he said.
The conclusion of the investigation and court proceedings is another step on the family’s path to healing but in itself hasn’t had much immediate impact in how they remember their son and how much his loss still hurts them.
“The day when he was finally done and he had pled guilty it felt like yes it was another step towards us being able to move on,” said Kenton.
“We’re not going to forget, we’re never going to,” he said, “you can put it behind you but it’s always going to be there.”
Every day has been a challenge for the family who continue to struggle with the hole left in their lives by Jaydon’s death.
In their victim impact statement, they wrote, “even after two very long painful years there are still very few days that we go to sleep without tears in our eyes, reliving over and over the tragic events that took our amazing son from us.”
Anniversaries and special dates will always be particularly difficult.
“He died on my birthday,” said Kenton, “that’s something that’s going to hang over my head forever.”
The family has learned to be strong when going out in public but Kenton said they are “still a mess a lot of the time when it’s just us.”
“And fall apart at the weirdest times,” said Sheri, “like in the middle of the grocery store or you hear a song come on the radio and it just reminds you of him.”
Although it is always hard to look for a silver lining in tragedy, the community of Jaydon’s friends and parents have come together with in support of the Sommerfelds.
“It’s awesome but so hard at the same time,” said Sheri.
The family has also been able to take some comfort from the fact that even in death, their son continued to help others. After the collision, Jaydon’s organs were donated.
“Six people, I believe, potentially are alive because of him,” said Kenton.
They have since been in contact with two of those people and are happy that those lives could be saved.
“He keeps changing lives,” said Sherri through tears.
“His heart is still out there beating somewhere,” said Kenton.
