Truck driver in Humboldt hockey bus crash pleads guilty

The Associated Press

6 years ago

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu leaves provincial court with his lawyer Mark Brayford, right, in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. Sidhu, the driver of a transport truck involved in a bus crash that killed 16 people with the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team in Canada last year has has pleaded guilty to all charges against him. Sidhu was charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. (Kayle Neis/The Canadian Press via AP)

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, center, leaves provincial court in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. Sidhu, the driver of a transport truck involved in a bus crash that killed 16 people with the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team in Canada last year has has pleaded guilty to all charges against him. Sidhu was charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. (Kayle Neis/The Canadian Press via AP)

A man pays at a memorial, including a cross made out of hockey sticks, near the intersection of a fatal bus crash near Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, Monday, April, 9, 2018. A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team crashed into a truck last Friday night, April 6, killing 15 and sending over a dozen more to the hospital. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police lay flowers at the intersection of a crash site near Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Sunday, April, 8, 2018. A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team crashed into a truck en route to Nipawin for a game Friday night killing multiple people and sending over a dozen more to the hospital. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

MELFORT, Saskatchewan — The truck driver involved in the deadly crash with a junior hockey team’s bus last April has pleaded guilty to all charges.

Sixteen people died and 13 players were injured when Jaskirat Singh Sidhu’s semi loaded with peat moss collided with the Humboldt Broncos’ bus in rural Saskatchewan.

Sidhu was charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Lawyer Mark Brayford said outside court Tuesday that his client told him he doesn’t “want to make things any worse” by going to trial. Sidhu was beside him with his head down.

A sentencing hearing is to begin Jan. 28. The maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death is 14 years and 10 years for dangerous driving causing bodily harm.