Charges laid in crash that killed teen

Late in the evening of Aug. 21., Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers from the Sudbury detachment were called to a three-vehicle collision on Highway 17 southwest at the bypass, between Southview Drive and Fielding Road.

The OPP report a westbound pick-up truck collided with two eastbound vehicles, a car and a pick-up truck.

The driver of the car was 18-year-old Dean Hancock, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the pickup truck was treated for minor injuries.

That evening, Hancock, a talented and versatile hockey player for the Nickel Capital Wolves of the Great North Midget League, was returning from a tryout for the Sudbury Nickel Barons of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.

“There's a sense of rage right now,” Albert Corradini, general manager of the Nickel Capital Wolves, told NorthernLife.ca. “A lot of people are extremely upset.”

The team brought in grief counsellors to their next practice, a day after the crash, and Corradini said more than 100 people came to grieve in their own way.

Police have now charged a 39-year-old Lively man with impaired driving causing death; impaired driving causing bodily harm; operation with over 80 milligrams causing death; operation with over 80 milligrams causing bodily harm; dangerous operation causing death; and dangerous operation causing bodily harm.

He is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury on Sept. 4.

The investigation is ongoing. Officers are asking anyone who may have witnessed the collision or may have information about the collision to contact the Sudbury OPP Detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).