ROCKVILLE–On Sunday, November 30 at 1:25 am, members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) was advised of a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) collision on Tower Road and Rockville Road in Howland Township.
Upon arrival, a male was being attended to by emergency medical service paramedics with a black and white ‘side-by-side’ Polaris UTV observed nearby with severe damage.
Preliminary investigation reveals that the vehicle was travelling on Tower Road when it left the roadway, rolling over and ejecting the male passenger, who was not wearing a helmet. The male, a 29-year-old of M’Chigeeng First Nation, was transferred to Mindemoya hospital where he was airlifted to Sudbury with life threatening injuries. As a result of the investigation a male was arrested on scene and was taken to Mindemoya hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
A 34-year-old male of Howland Township has been charged with the following offences: driving a motor vehicle while ability impaired by alcohol causing bodily harm contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada and failing to provide a breath sample contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.
The investigation is continuing and an OPP Technical Traffic Collision Investigator (TTCI) has been called in to assist with the investigation. The accused has been issued a 90 day automatic drivers licence suspension. He was released on an undertaking with conditions to appear in Ontario Court of Justice in Gore Bay on January 26, 2014.
The 29-year-old male is reported to have a broken back, for which he underwent emergency surgery on Sunday morning, as well as severe head injuries. Friends and family say the surgery went well and he is recovering in hospital.
