Prison for stolen pickup driver who killed woman heading home from work

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Colleen Slota routinely reminded the people she knew to fill their lives with peace and love.

But since her sudden, violent death on April 19, 2023, it’s been difficult for her loved ones to find the joy she brought to them.

“Grief is an ugly beast,” niece Natasha Newby said outside the London courthouse Tuesday after the sentencing of Shawn Tinning, who slammed a stolen pickup truck into Slota’s vehicle in a middle-of-the-night crash.

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Tinning, 39, was sentenced to six years in prison. He has three years and 20 days left to serve after factoring in the time he’s already spent behind bars.

“We feel lost at times. There’s an emptiness,” Newby said. “There’s a lack of reason to celebrate with Colleen. That’s what we did every day. She brought us all together and we’re missing that. We’re missing that link.”

It’s why Tinning’s sentence “feels like a major social injustice,” she said. “I don’t understand how someone can take a life and only get sentenced so little.”

Tinning pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death and failing to remain at the scene of a crash. Ontario Court Justice Brian White’s decision was six months less than what the Crown requested. The defence had asked for four years in prison.

Slota, 62, was a devout Catholic with a large circle of friends she considered family. She was killed instantly at the intersection of Adelaide Street and Thompson Road, struck while she was driving home from her job at London Hospital Linen Inc. shortly before 2:30 a.m.

Loved ones described her as hard-working, spiritual and independent and looking forward to retirement.

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Tinning was driving a stolen truck with stolen licence plates, with a trailer with no plates attached to it. Two passengers were in the cab with him.

They were travelling north on King Edward Avenue and passed a London police cruiser. Tinning sped up to escape the officer. He ran stop signs and ran a red light on Adelaide, striking Slota’s vehicle.

An officer was later cleared after an investigation by the provincial police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit.

Tinning’s passengers suffered scrapes and bruises, but Slota suffered “significant trauma,” White said. Her vehicle came to rest in a ravine near the intersection. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Tinning took off.

He was arrested the next day.

During sentencing, the judge told Tinning: “It’s not difficult for this court to appreciate the tremendous pain you have forever caused the friends and family of Colleen Slota and to this community by your senseless and destructive behaviour resulting in such tragedy.”

He pointed to the heartfelt victim impact statements, particularly from her close friend Toni Hamm, who considered Slota her sister. Hamm said she still has nightmares about “the horrific noise the crash must have made . . . I pray to God she didn’t have time to scream. They tell me she died instantly.”

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Ashley Hamm wrote that Slota’s loss has been difficult to process, but noted: “Colleen would have wanted us to forgive.”

White couldn’t ignore that the crash was the result of Tinning fleeing police and that he had a seven-page criminal record that included other driving offences. Tinning, the judge said, “proved himself to be a serious danger to the public.”

The judge called his actions “brazen in its disregard for the risk it created” and added: “It is conduct that must be emphatically and unambiguously denounced.”

Tinning submitted a letter of apology, writing that the crash “haunts me to this day. I am aware what I have done, I cannot take back and I feel horrible. I would like to sincerely apologize to the victim’s family and pray that they can forgive me for this horrendous act.”

White noted Tinning has taken some rehabilitative steps in custody, but noted other orders given in the past “have had little impact on Mr. Tinning’s choice to continue in a crime-focused lifestyle.”

White tacked a three-year driving prohibition after Tinning finishes his prison sentence.

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Newby said Tinning will still have a chance to make new memories with his loved ones, while they can’t with Slota.

“She often reminded us of peace, happiness,” Newby said. “Whenever we struggled in circumstances, she would bring us back together and she played a vital role in our family.”

Their journey now is toward “acceptance,” she said. “But it didn’t have to be. He could have done the right thing. He could have stopped the car, pulled over, reduced speed instead of enticing a high-speed chase.”

And, she said, they will learn how to live without Slota but continue to honour her. “And just never forget and carry our love with us forever.”

jsims@postmedia.com

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