B.C. man charged with driving death of Shuswap woman rescinds guilty plea

The family of a Shuswap woman killed when the vehicle she was a passenger in crashed near Sicamous will have to wait a little longer for closure after the driver decided not to plead guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

Today, Jan. 25, at the Salmon Arm court house Dorian Lee Bell rescinded his guilty plea and instead the case will go forward with a trial.

Bell’s lawyer Ian McTavish told the court his client had been scheduled to plead guilty to charges regarding the crash today but had now changed his mind.

The crash killed 28-year-old mother of four Brittany Thompson who was a passenger in the car.

No details regarding the crash were discussed in court, however, the circumstances surrounding the crash were previously investigated by the B.C. police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.

READ MORE: Police watchdog says no offence committed in Shuswap RCMP traffic stop that left one dead

According to the Investigations Office at around 4 p.m. May 20, RCMP officers attempted to stop a Honda Civic in Canoe, outside Salmon Arm, but were unsuccessful.

Police were then told the vehicle was travelling towards Sicamous on Highway 1 and used a spike belt near the Bruhn Bridge in Sicamous to stop the car.

"During the attempted stop, the Honda went off the road before coming to rest nearby,” the Independent Investigations Office said in its report.

Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Investigations Office concluded there was no wrongdoing on behalf of the RCMP officers and they had not committed an offence.

Bell, 32, was charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, flight from police, impaired operation of a vehicle and driving while prohibited.

The defence lawyer said Bell had no memory of what happened in the accident due to the head injury he sustained.

McTavish said he would no longer be representing Bell and he would now have to find another lawyer.

The case was then rescheduled to go to trial at a later date.

According to a CBC news story, Thompson lived in Malakwa and had four children aged between one and 10 and was engaged to her common-law partner.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.