ANTIGONISH: RCMP have laid charges against a 45-year-old Lakevale, Antigonish County man in relation to a fatal two-car collision in Porters Lake along Highway 107 on January 17, 2018.
Chet Bernard Chisholm was charged on February 13 with criminal negligence causing death, two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, and breach of trust.
Cpl. Jennifer Clarke, a public information officer for the RCMP, said these are unusual charges because Chisholm wasn’t behind the wheel of a vehicle but completed the motor vehicle inspection on one of them.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of this in Nova Scotia,” she said in a statement provided to The Reporter last Thursday. “There may be other cases but I’m not aware of charges of this nature being laid recently.”
Chisholm, the man accused of improperly completing the safety inspection on one of the vehicles involved, was working as a bus inspector and compliance officer with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal’s enforcement division based in Antigonish at the time of the collision.
A 49-year-old woman who was driving a small vehicle inspected by Chisholm was killed and two other people were injured.
During the course of the police’s investigation, police determined the safety inspection on the vehicle involved, had been improperly completed. RCMP were also able to determine, Chisholm, who inspected the vehicle, was the subject of another incident in January 2018 where an improper vehicle inspection had been completed.
“The inspections were being completed and were not being completed properly, and we’ve laid charges and fairly serious charges at that,” Clarke said.
A spokesperson with the transportation department confirmed last Thursday that Chisholm had previously worked for the department and the improper inspections do not relate to his former duties with the department.
“Mr. Chisholm was formally employed with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal as a motor carrier inspector inspecting buses,” Marla MacInnis said. “As this matter is in front of the courts, we cannot comment further.”
She advised all buses in the province are inspected biannually and therefore any buses that had been inspected by Chisholm have since been inspected by another motor carrier inspector.
MacInnis referred to Chisholm as a “bus inspector” but The Reporter has confirmed that he also served as a compliance officer with the department and had been carrying out the inspections as a “backyard mechanic.”
According to court documents from 1998, Chisholm, who was 24 at the time, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and operating a motor vehicle while impaired. He was sentenced to 18-months in jail and two-years probation. Following an altercation at a bar, Chisholm pursued the man and continued the fight. He drove his car directly at the victim, striking and injuring him before speeding away.
Chisholm appeared in Antigonish Provincial Court last Wednesday and was released on conditions, including no contact with several individuals and not to perform motor vehicle inspections and is scheduled to return to court on March 13.