Clyde River driver found not guilty in ATV crash death

A Clyde River man has been found not guilty of dangerous driving in a July 2013 incident in which a 16-year-old boy was killed.

A judgment by Justice Andrew Mahar says that on July 29, 2013, Joe Aipeelee, who was 18 at the time, borrowed an all-terrain vehicle from his uncle.

Aipeelee drove the ATV while 16-year-old Kevin Ilauq sat behind him on the utility rack.

The teens drove around the Baffin community for a few hours that day, “shouting and laughing and at times driving quite quickly,” the judgment said, until they hit a stretch of gravel road with a gradual curve in it.

That’s when the ATV veered off the road and hit a pile of boulders surrounding a utility pole.

Aipeelee was thrown clear of the ATV, while his passenger, Ilauq, maintained his grip and struck the utility pole. Ilauq died shortly afterwards.

Although the court found that Aipeelee was driving quickly, Justice Andy Mahar ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the driver was speeding or driving dangerously in the moments leading up to the collision.

Eyewitness accounts say the ATV was likely travelling within the speed limit before it crashed.

“Dangerous driving requires a marked departure from the standard of care of a reasonably prudent driver,” Mahar wrote in his decision.

“The evidence in this case, while it suggests that more care could and should have been taken, does not establish a marked departure from the norm.”

Mahar added that the loss of Kevin Illauq was “obviously deeply felt” by Ilauq’s family and by Aipeelee, whose regret he described as “obvious and moving.”

“We have all been young at one time and we have all made mistakes, sometimes dreadful mistakes,” Mahar said.

“I hope that, in time, the people who have been injured by this terrible event can find some peace and the ability to forgive.”