N.S. man sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for fatal crash that killed 3 people

A 27-year-old Nova Scotia man has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in connection to a fatal crash that killed three people – including an infant – and injured two others near Amherst more than two years ago.

In a decision issued on Dec. 16, Justice Joshua M. Arnold sentenced Tyler Strong to nearly half a decade behind bars after he pleaded guilty to three counts of dangerous driving causing death.

According to the agreed-upon statement of facts, Strong was driving on Highway 2 towards Amherst in a rented 2021 Volkswagen Golf on the night of Oct 21, 2023. It was raining heavily and the posted speed limit was 70 km/h.

The facts say Strong overtook a vehicle in the northwest bound lane and reached a speed of 168 km/h. He then reached an intersection just as a red 2021 Mitsubishi RVR was turning left onto the on-ramp leading to Highway 104.

“Mr. Strong’s vehicle collided with the left rear side of the Mitsubishi, in a T-Bone fashion, at an estimated speed of 149km/hr,” the written decision reads. “The impact on the Mitsubishi caused it to flip several times and resulted in severe damage to the vehicle.”

Three of the four people in the Mitsubishi – a 43-year-old, a 26-year-old and a two-month-old – were declared dead at the scene. A front passenger in the Mitsubishi was ejected from the vehicle and suffered a broken femur and multiple broken vertebrae in their back and neck, among other injuries.

A passenger in Strong’s vehicle suffered a collapsed lung, a broken wrist, several broken ribs and a broken sternum.

“Many people speed on Canadian highways,” the written decision reads. “Many traffic fatalities occur on Canadian highways. Not all of those events engage the criminal justice system.

“However, the combination of excessive speed, in the dark, in the rain, passing on a solid line, while driving an unfamiliar vehicle, resulting in these horrendous consequences including three fatalities and two seriously injured victims, all justify the engagement of the criminal justice system. His moral blameworthiness mandates federal incarceration but is still at the lower end of the scale in comparison with intentional homicides.”

Following his prison sentence, Strong will have a five-year driving prohibition and a 10-year firearms prohibition.

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