THUNDER BAY -- The Crown has withdrawn a Criminal Code charge that was laid by Ontario Provincial Police after a fatal collision in December 2016.
Leonard Dick of Thunder Bay, 46, was charged in May 2017 with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death in connection with a three-vehicle collision on the Thunder Bay Expressway between Oliver Road and John Street.
Gary Maki, 50 years old, was ejected from the pickup truck he was driving and was pronounced dead in hospital.
Police said the collision occurred when a northbound SUV crossed the centre line and collided with the southbound pickup. A southbound compact car was also struck.
The crown attorney's office withdrew the charge after determining there was no longer a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction.
Maki's wife, Tracey, said Wednesday that the decision took her completely by surprise.
"I was devastated, angry, sad, broken. So many things all at once. I didn't expect it. I thought I was going in for an update on the case, and I was hijacked," Maki said.
She added that she doesn't want anybody else "to have to come to this end in a similar case because of lack of evidence, because of lack of information, or because of lack of laws that don't quite match up" to what happened.
Maki said she feels "let down" by the justice system.
