Man pleads guilty to negligence causing death in fatal Halifax collision

A man pleaded guilty for negligence causing death in connection to a fatal collision in Halifax last January.

Deepak Sharma was speeding down a 50 km/h road at 126 km/h in Halifax when he struck 21-year-old student Alexandria Wortman as she walked in a marked crossing.

Instead of stopping, Sharma kept driving with Wortman wedged to his windshield, only coming to a halt when he hit a parked car in an intersection.

Wortman went to hospital and later died from her injuries.

These were the agreed statement of facts read out in court on Thursday. Sharma pleaded guilty to charges of negligence causing death and fleeing the scene of an accident.

Police responded to a collision at the corner of Robie Street and Veterans Memorial Lane around 5:47 p.m. on Jan. 27.

According to the statement of facts, Sharma was driving a black Honda Civic that evening when he rear-ended another vehicle on Jubilee Road. Both drivers got out of their vehicles, but Sharma hopped back behind the wheel and fled the scene without giving his name or insurance.

The facts say Sharma hit the other driver in the hip with his Civic as he took off. The driver managed to photograph the Civic and called 911.

Sharma nearly hit another oncoming vehicle and a truck as he hit a speed of 126 km/h around Vernon Street, according to the facts. That’s when he hit Wortman, who was walking across Jubilee Road at a marked four-way stop.

The facts say Wortman, a Dalhousie University student, suffered multiple blunt force traumas due to the collision, including a fracture of the cervical spine, multiple contusions of the lungs bilaterally, lacerations of internal organs and a right temporoparietal fracture of the skull.

According to the facts, Sharma continued driving and hit a parked car at the Jubilee Road and Robie Street intersection, at which point Wortman fell from the windshield.

People tried to help Sharma and Wortman at the scene, the facts say, but Sharma screamed, “I’ll kill you.” He also charged at one of the people.

When police arrived at the scene, they found Sharma doing push-ups and yelling. He then pushed an officer away and ran towards the Veterans Memorial Building before police arrested him.

The facts say Sharma has a history of violations under the Motor Vehicle Act and he also had two speeding tickets in New Brunswick from 2018.

Sharma will be sentenced on Sept. 22.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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