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ATV collision not malicious: parent Nicole Veerman Northern News Services Published Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Police were called to the local health centre on July 26, around 1 a.m., after a man was struck by an ATV while walking against the flow of traffic. The driver of the ATV fled the scene, while the pedestrian was taken to the health centre by witnesses. The pedestrian received non-life threatening injuries. According to a July 28 RCMP press release, alcohol was not a factor in the collision. Jordan St. John is facing charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, failure to remain at the scene and operating a vehicle without insurance or registration. He has not yet entered a plea and the charges have not been proven in court. Jordan's father, Ryan St. John, said his son, who will appear before the Nunavut Court of Justice in Arviat Oct. 24, feels awful about what happened, and it's only been made worse by the negative media coverage since the collision. St. John said his family feels that Jordan's name has been smeared in local media just to make a good headline. They feel like there was little consideration given to Jordan's character, he said. "He's a 19-year-old boy that's never been in trouble with the law. He makes one mistake and he's made out to be a criminal, like he's committed a bad crime and it's the worst thing that's ever happened. It's wrong," he said. "He feels real bad for what happened and all the attention he's getting for one mistake he made. It's hard on a young guy that's got a whole life ahead of him. "(He's) an upstanding young man, a high school graduate with a full-time job. He treats people with respect. He's a good young hunter. He is always helping others. He plans to go to college this fall. He is active in sports and dreams of having a bright future. "He's never intentionally hurt someone in his life. We've raised him the best we can and obviously he made one mistake and it just smeared his name." St. John said his son fled the scene because he was scared. It wasn't a malicious act. It was just Jordan's first reaction, he said. "His mistake was he got scared and our first reaction is usually to run. "It was dark and he said he didn't think he hurt the person, but he was too scared, afraid of the what if. "That was his mistake, and obviously as a parent I came down on him and told him you never do that no matter what the circumstances are, if you think somebody's hurt, you always go help them, no matter what. "He understands that. It's an honest mistake he made. There's nothing malicious about what happened."
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