2 men to serve jail time then be deported for Surrey hit-and-run dragging death
Two men have been sentenced to three years in jail and handed a three-year driving ban for deliberately dragging a man they struck with their vehicle for 1.3 kilometres through Surrey, B.C., in 2024, before dumping his body in the street.
The men, both 22, came to Canada on international student visas and will be deported back to India after serving their sentence.
They pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop at an accident and offer assistance and interfering with a dead body.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Gaganpreet Singh, Jagdeep Singh and a third individual who was never charged were driving around Surrey in a red Ford Mustang in the early hours of Jan. 27, 2024.
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Around 1:40 a.m., they left a pizza shop on 102 Avenue near King George Boulevard with Gaganpreet at the wheel of the Mustang owned by Jagdeep, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
At the same time, two witnesses driving north on University Drive noticed a man lying on the roadway and called 911 at 1:41 a.m.
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Seconds later, court heard, Gaganpreet struck the man.
The impact occurred as one of the two witnesses was on the phone with a 911 operator.
Both witnesses, the Crown said, saw the Mustang hit the victim but didn't see the victim after and assumed he was being dragged.
Chilling audio from the 911 call was played in court.
After the caller states, 'There's a man lying in the middle of the road,' voices can be heard saying 'Oh my God, Oh my God, someone just hit him,' followed by 'Oh my God, where is he?' and 'Oh my God, he's stuck under the car.'
According to the agreed statement of facts, Gaganpreet stopped briefly at 105A Avenue and University Drive, where he and Jagdeep exited the vehicle and looked at and under its front.
At 1:42 a.m., friends of the accused pulled up in another vehicle, followed by the SUV of the two witnesses, which also stopped.
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'Hey man, there's a man underneath your car,' the witness is heard saying on the 911 recording.
Gaganpreet, the Crown said, drove away with the victim still under the vehicle.
Surveillance video, the Crown said, shows the witness standing by the road as the accused accelerates away with the victim's body stuck to the vehicle.
2:13
Fatal hit-and-run sentencing hearing hears troubling audio of 911 call
After Gaganpreet unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the body on 132nd Street by pulling forward, stopping and reversing, the prosecutor said he and Jagdeep pulled into a cul-de-sac and 'worked in concert to dislodge the victim's badly mangled body.'
By this time, the Crown said, the victim was deceased.
Surveillance video entered as an exhibit during the sentencing hearing shows Jagdeep reversing the Mustang while Gaganpreet holds onto the victim, in what was eventually a successful effort to dislodge the body.
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Grey suffered horrific injuries, court heard, and died as a result of being hit and dragged by the Mustang.
Gaganpreet's hand, court heard, contained the victim's DNA.
— with files from Kristen Robinson
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