Driver sentenced for fatal crash

A Burlington man was sentenced to more than five months in jail Tuesday for a 2012 car crash that killed 52-year-old Judy Snow Whalen from Hamilton. The courtroom was a-wash in tears as the victim’s family responded to an emotional apology from 23-year-old Kyrie McKay.

Judy Snow Whalen was in the back passenger seat of a friends car after she was picked up from work at about 5pm on October 25, 2012. They were turning left onto Harvester Road from the South Service Road, when they were struck by an SUV driven by Kyrie McKay. Snow Whalen died at the scene.

McKay pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. The crown couldn’t prove the original charges, dangerous driving causing death and impaired driving, because the alcohol in his system would have registered a warning, not a fail in a ride test. He was speeding, but just 20 km over the limit. And when he drove straight through the intersection, the light was amber, not red.

Vivian Snow is Judy’s daughter: “I was scared to come to court today and look Kyrie in the eye.”

But instead of anger, Snow Whalen’s family was overcome by the heartbreak on both sides: “Kyrie McKay was very emotional when he stood in front of the court and expressed his remorse to Judy’s family. He said, I see you crying in the front, I would do anything for you I could. He said this was a monstrous act but I am not a monster. Please don’t look at me like I’m a monster. My mother is sitting right there, and I know what you’re going through, I lost my father this way.”

The judge then took a break and Snow Whalen’s daughters went straight over to McKay’s family. They hugged and cried.

Ruby Kroetsch is also Judy’s daughter: “My mom’s not here but she still is and I know she’d be going through this if it was the other way around.”

Snow Whalen’s daughters then went into a room to meet with McKay. Christine Snow is also Judy’s daughter: “I just wanted to give him a hug, after his sincerity. So all that started his mom talking to us, telling us that when Kyrie was three-years old, they lost his father in a car accident.”

But they’re scarred by the loss of their mother, who was a recent bride when she died. Earl Whalen now keeps her memory alive on his arms.