MANDEL: 'Selfish' driver jailed for leaving elderly cyclist to die by roadside

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They were both heading to a Burlington hospital for their medical appointments — but one would never arrive alive.

Ji Feng, a 42-year-old North York mom and financial investment specialist, was driving to Joseph Brant Hospital for a CT scan to investigate why she was experiencing numbness in her face and hand.

Beloved grandfather Doug Fritz, 81, was cycling to the same hospital for an oncology appointment.

On the spring afternoon of May 18, 2023, their worlds tragically collided, leaving the cyclist dead and the distracted driver sentenced to 179 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident resulting in death.

The collision was bad enough — but it’s what she did after that makes it even more egregious.

According to the recent sentencing decision by Justice Scott Latimer, it was just before 2:30 p.m. when dash-cam footage from another vehicle on the road showed Feng was driving partially in the designated bike lane when she struck Fritz’s bike, throwing the cyclist onto the passenger side of her front passenger windshield before he tumbled down the side of her car and on to the pavement.

Her windshield was shattered. Her car was dented. It’s hard to believe she didn’t know that she’d just hit a person. But Feng braked for only a second and then kept on driving, leaving Fritz crumpled and dying by the side of the road.

Like so much road kill.

She parked in a far corner of the hospital lot, took a picture of the caved-in windshield and texted it to her husband, telling him it “just broke” and he needed to call their insurance company. Feng then entered the hospital for her appointment.

Meanwhile, witnesses rushed to Fritz’s side, but by the time first responders arrived, the retired police officer had no vital signs. While Feng was undergoing her medical appointment, the cyclist’s body was being transported to the same hospital where he was pronounced dead. “The cause of death was blunt force trauma. Fragments of windshield were embedded in his back and injuries were apparent throughout his body,” the judge said.

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While at the hospital, Feng’s insurance company phoned, and she told them she was driving when the windshield “all of a sudden” cracked and the car was no longer drivable. The tow truck driver later took a look at the damage and was instantly suspicious, asking her if she’d hit a person. She told him she “didn’t remember.”

Arrested the next day, Feng was shown the dash-cam footage and insisted she never saw him: “I can’t believe it. I can’t see him. I can’t believe. Honestly, I felt for sure there was something wrong. Maybe I kill him. But I didn’t see the guy.”

Latimer found she’d been distracted by her medical issues, but that it was no excuse, and that leaving the scene was “reprehensible.”

“Selfish ignorance of other users of the roadway – as I regrettably conclude occurred here – comes at a price in criminal court,” he said.

Her lawyer urged the judge to impose a conditional sentence that the remorseful Feng could serve at home and continue to care for her autistic son. As a permanent resident of 20 years who never became a Canadian citizen, he warned that she’d be liable for deportation to China if sentenced to jail.

Surprisingly, Latimer felt that serving her time in the community wouldn’t send the right message.

“Halton Region, as I referred to earlier, is densely populated and motorists, cyclists and pedestrians constantly find themselves in close quarters. In the event an accident occurs, a driver’s number one priority is to their fellow man,” the judge said.

Ms. Feng’s failure to prioritize her obligation to Mr. Fritz over her own situation was a criminal act that needs to be denounced by the sentence I impose. A conditional sentence would be inadequate in the circumstances.”

So he sentenced her to five months and 29 days — still a bargain for her shameful act.

mmandel@postmedia.com