Legally blind man who killed flagger avoids jail time

Members of the traffic control person community in B.C. are outraged that an elderly man who hit and killed a flagger, while banned from driving, won’t serve jail time.

Members of the traffic control person community in B.C. are outraged that an elderly man who hit and killed a flagger, while banned from driving, won’t serve jail time.

“The decision is total injustice,” said Phil Jackman, president of Valley Traffic Systems Inc.

“The judge talked about poor Melle Pool, but what about Terry Mitchell and his widow?”

Mitchell, 52, an experienced flagger with Valley Traffic Systems Inc., was struck and killed by a pickup truck, while working near Fort Langley in 2008.

The truck was driven by Melle Pool, an 88-year-old visually impaired man, who didn’t have a valid drivers licence. The retired dairy farmer didn’t have his licence renewed in 2001 because doctors said his poor eyesight made him unfit for the road.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge gave Pool two years of probation and a 10-year driving ban for killing Mitchell, who was wearing full reflective gear.

“He got 15 hours of community service, 200 hours of probation and can’t leave the house from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., when he would be sleeping anyway,” said Jackman.

“This is totally ridiculous. No justice has been done.”

Katherine Keras, owner of Pro-Safe Traffic Service, is also furious that the judge didn’t hand out a tougher sentence.

“I don’t see how putting him in jail will do anything, but he should have to pay for that death,” she said.

“Putting him in jail will not rectify the situation, but the sale of his estate could benefit the lives of a widow and two children, who lost their father. He should have to pay somehow and some way.”

Jackman is also upset about the message the judge is sending.

“I guess if you want to kill someone in this province, use a car,” he said.

An investigation is still underway into another death of a flagger in July 2010.

Donald Cain was working for Pro-Safe Traffic Service, when he was hit by an east bound vehicle at a construction site on the Lougheed Highway in Mission, B.C.

The 49-year Langley resident was about a metre beyond the fog line, or the white painted line on the shoulder, when the driver of the car went over the shoulder line and hit him.

The driver didn’t stop and dragged the flagger for 20-30 feet.

Cain was a father of two, who also supported his mother.