A West Vancouver man who crashed his Mercedes into an Audi Spyder convertible after driving at high speed down a winding narrow stretch of Marine Drive won’t learn his sentence in courts for at least another month.
A sentencing hearing for Andrew Alan Hromyk, a 50-year-old West Vancouver father of two, continued this week in North Vancouver provincial court after Hromyk earlier entered a guilty plea to a charge of dangerous driving.
Lawyers have agreed on many of the facts about what happened on the evening of the dramatic car crash, but argued Wednesday before Judge John Milne about some key details.
Earlier in the hearing, held in May, Crown counsel Arlene Loyst described how witnesses reported seeing Hromyk’s vehicle careening dangerously down a stretch of Marine Drive on Aug. 23, 2014, overtaking up to 10 other cars on the wrong side of the road. Court heard that soon after, the Mercedes smashed into the rear passenger side of the eastbound Audi, sending that car spinning into a nearby hedge.
Loyst asked the judge to impose a three-year driving ban on Hromyk and a one-year conditional sentence, with house arrest for the first six months. She pointed to several aggravating factors in the crash including that there were two children in the Mercedes and that, “There was alcohol consumption of some sort. More than to a minor degree.”
Court heard earlier how in the afternoon before the crash, Hromyk had been socializing on a boat where he was handed a strong vodka-based drink. Following the crash, Hromyk failed a roadside breath demand and blew Breathalyzer readings of .130 and .120 about three and a half hours after the crash.
On Wednesday, however, the judge rejected a suggestion Hromyk got rid of liquor bottles in the car by tossing them into the bushes after the crash, noting contradictory witness statements.
Steven Ross testified that following the crash outside his house, he saw Hromyk reach down into the car and grab “what looked like two bottles and throwing them in the bush.”
But Hromyk’s lawyer Mark Jetté pointed out in cross examination that Ross didn’t mention seeing the bottles in his original statement to police. He added another witness, who didn’t testify, told police he saw Hromyk tossing what looked like “bottle caps.”
West Vancouver police officer Christopher Bigland testified he searched nearby bushes by flashlight but found only one beer bottle.
Lawyers are expected to argue next month about whether or not Hromyk was trying to drive away from the scene of the crash. The prosecutor has told the judge that he was, but Jetté said he will submit an expert report that proves the Mercedes was propelled by momentum away from the smashed Audi.
Jetté told the judge part of the problem is the police investigation into the crash was “grossly deficient.”
The sentencing hearing will continue in North Vancouver provincial court Nov. 29.
