Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 11, 2008

HAY RIVER - A Hay River drunk driver has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for a motor vehicle accident earlier this year.

Joshua Peter Friesen, 24, received 12 months for impaired driving causing bodily harm and three months consecutive for failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

In addition, he was prohibited from driving for three years upon his release.

Friesen, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced in Hay River Territorial Court on May 7, by Judge R. A. Philp.

The accident occurred on May 4, on a service road along the Mackenzie Highway.

After leaving a lounge at closing time, Friesen was driving a car along the road when he hit a 21-year-old man walking with two friends.

The victim was thrown over the vehicle and fractured his right leg.

Since the accident, the victim has undergone two operations and faces more surgeries, and still must use crutches.

Friesen stopped momentarily and his girlfriend got out of the car after the pedestrian was hit, but he drove away.

His lawyer, Michael Hansen, told the court Friesen drove away because the vehicle was approached by two men, and he thought he was going to be dragged out and assaulted.

"He did not leave to escape responsibility," Hansen said.

Not long after the first accident, Friesen struck a vehicle parked in a driveway on Woodland Drive.

Friesen, who has lived in Hay River for six months, apologized to the victim and his family in a statement to the court. Struggling to control his emotions, he said he made a terrible choice on the night of the accident.

Friesen said an apology doesn't change what he did, "But I want you to know how sorry I am," he said.