Driver pleads guilty to charge related to roadside death of Nova Scotia Mountie

MONCTON, N.B. – A man from Pennsylvania who was driving a van that struck and killed a Mountie on a New Brunswick highway has pleaded guilty to driving without due care.

Const. Frank Deschenes was helping two people in an SUV change a flat tire on Sept. 12 when the van, driven by Vasiliy Meshko, plowed into his cruiser on Sept. 12 in Memramcook.

Two other people were injured and taken to hospital.

Earlier this week, the RCMP said there was not enough evidence to proceed with charges under the Criminal Code.

Instead, the 31-year-old driver from Wilkes-Barre, Penn., was charged under the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act.

A second charge of failing to move over was withdrawn by the Crown in Moncton provincial court

The 35-year-old Nova Scotia-based officer was known as a dedicated Mountie who worked hard to teach drivers about the need to slow down when driving past emergency vehicles.

Originally from northwest New Brunswick, Deschenes was a former member of the force’s famed Musical Ride, and had gotten married last summer.

Meshko is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 22.