Atikokan man sentenced for fatal accident

An Atikokan man was sentenced earlier this month in connection with a fatal single-vehicle accident that occurred during the early-morning hours of July 29, 2007.
Joseph J. Benjamin had pleaded guilty back on Sept. 9 to one charge of operating a motor vehicle in a manner that was dangerous to the public and thereby caused death, and one charge of operating a motor vehicle on a street in a manner that was dangerous to the public and then caused bodily harm.

Benjamin was sentenced to 18 months’ jail time on the first charge and 12 months on the second, to be served concurrently, by Justice J.S. McCartney on Nov. 6 in Thunder Bay.
He also received a seven-year prohibition from driving a motor vehicle, and one-year of probation.
The accident, in which a Pontiac Grand Prix struck a tree and telephone pole, causing it to shear in two, killed 19-year-old Krista Mosley of Atikokan and seriously injured two others.