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THE BEREAVED mother of a North Vancouver motor-
cyclist killed in an Aug. 4 collision with a car is relieved a
more severe charge has been laid against the driver of the

NEWS photo Tom Burtey

car.

“It seemed so hopeless for a
while. It seemed we were beating
our heads against a wall and we
knew something just) wasn't
right,’’ said Elsie Allinson.

Her son Brian. 30, died of
massive internal injuries after the
Harley Davidson motorcycle he
was driving collided with a Honda
ear driven by 19-year-olU Jon
Millar at the intersection of Fourth
Street and St. Andrews Avenue.

Millar was originally charged
with failing to yield the right of
way after stopping for a stop sign.

But North Vancouver RCMP
charged Millar, who made his first
court appearance Friday, with
dangerous driving causing death,
following the mid-December con-
clusion of a coroner's inquest.

“It’s good that the charge has
been upgraded. The coroner did
the job very well. [f Al (Brian's fa-
ther) hadn't investigated on his
own, nothing more would have
happened,’' said Allinson.

Discrepancies between the
reported speeds of the motorcycle
and car as determined in a police
reconstruction of the fatal accident
and as determined in a reconstruc-
tion done on behalf of the Allin-
sons, as well as a lack of potential
witness reports, led father Al
Allinson to push for further in-
vestigation.

After making his first ap-
pearance in North Vancouver pro-
vincial court Jan. 22, Millar has
been remanded to Feb. 5 to fix a
date for trial.

According to North Vancouver
RCMP Sgt. Bob Blair, the con-
sideration of any charges against
Millar was withheld while the cor-
oner’s inquest into the accident

remained unresolved.

“The decision to charge follow-
ed investigation from our members
investigating at the scene and then
sitting down with the prosecu-
tion,”’ said Blair.

Said district Crown counsel Kerr
Clark: ‘‘Very often Crown waits
for the inquest to have an oppor-
tunity to see how the evidence un-

ACCIDENT victim’s mother Elsie
Allinson...‘‘we knew something

just wasn't right."*

Presiding inquest coroner Diane
Messier slammed police investiga-
tion of the accident, noting the
persistence of the dead man's fa-
ther in attempting to locate acci-
dent witnesses was instrumental in
piecing together the picture.

The inquest jury recommended
Crown counsel consider laying
charges following review of the in-
quest transcript.