Lifeguard charged with negligence in northern Alberta drowning
A 25-year-old lifeguard has been charged following the 2020 drowning of a 34-year-old man at a Fort McMurray rec complex.
RCMP were called to MacDonald Island Park on Dec. 12, 2020, to help paramedics with a drowning in the swimming pool.
The injured man was taken to hospital and later transferred to an Edmonton facility. He died on Dec. 18, 2020.
On Tuesday, RCMP announced that after a "lengthy investigation," the lifeguard has been charged with criminal negligence causing death but an investigator in the case wouldn't explain why exactly.
"What people need to keep in mind is that sometimes criminal negligence has to do with something someone did, or on the flip side, sometimes the offence has to do with something someone omitted to do that was in their duty to do," Const. Denzil Morey told CTV News Edmonton.
Morey said witnesses, staff members and swimmers were interviewed in the case and video of the incident was collected, adding that more details will come out in court.
The accused, now a resident of Calgary, is set to appear in Fort McMurray Provincial Court on Nov. 22.
Lawyer Peter Sankoff said, generally speaking, criminal negligence is hard to prove and has to be more than just what would commonly be considered a "mistake" at work.
"It's not a matter of negligence in a sense of they did a bad job, or they are liable in a civil suit, it's gotta be more than that. To qualify as criminal negligence it's got to be a marked and substantial departure from the ordinary standard care. It's a high threshold," he explained to CTV News Edmonton.
"I don't know the facts of the case, but I'm willing to assume that the lifeguard didn't intentionally fail at what they're doing. So now you're trying to decide that limitation where bad is too bad. And that is ultimately the decision for a jury of your peers."
Sentences for criminal negligence causing death range from probation to a life sentence, Sankoff said, depending on the factors of the case and a person's history.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo declined to comment on the case.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.