Trial underway for supervisor charged with criminal negligence in deadly 2020 dump truck crash

Milton Urgiles arrived at the Barrie courthouse Monday, on trial for criminal negligence causing death after the dump truck Denis Garant was driving lost control and crashed into a tree three years ago, on Sept. 22, 2020, near Alliston, Ont.

Police charged the 46-year-old man from Toronto eight months after the crash on Adjala-Tecumseth Townline between Concessions 2 and 3, alleging the dump truck 53-year-old Garant was driving had a mechanical defect that caused it to leave the road, crash into a ditch and hit the tree.

On Monday, the Crown alleged that Urgiles was Garant's supervisor at the time of the deadly collision and ignored concerned text messages from Garant notifying him the truck's steering was cutting in and out the night before the fatal crash.

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The Crown told the court Urgiles never responded to the messages and sent the vehicle out the following morning with Garant behind the wheel.

A retired collision reconstruction expert and forensic mechanic took the stand, testifying he found a failed front left tire with no tread left on its inner half and an exposed steel cord during his investigation of the crash scene.

Denis Garant is pictured in this undated photo. (Source: DeMarco Funeral Home obituary)

The expert told the court the tire should not have been on the road that day because the lack of tread would have made maintaining contact with the roadway difficult.

"You're not getting traction, so it is going to cause trouble steering, and the truck will just slide on the asphalt itself," he said, adding the truck would ultimately shift to the side of the damaged tire, causing it to likely burst from overwhelming heat and pressure.

The defence argued documents obtained by Urgiles and the Toronto trucking company he worked for show the truck Garant had been driving had undergone a safety inspection roughly a month before the crash.

The two-week trial began last week and is scheduled to resume Tuesday.