By Derek Cornet

Impaired driving

‘A lot of courage’: Men recall fateful night caused by drinking and driving

Feb 4, 2019 | 5:21 PM

The effects of impaired driving were apparent at a special presentation in La Ronge this afternoon where two men talked about the traumatic circumstances which brought them together.

Students at Churchill Community High School were brought back in time to a fateful day on Aug. 9, 2014, when the lives of Harold Johnson, Hillary Cook and many others were changed forever. Johnson’s late brother Gary Johnson, who was 52 years old at the time, was walking home along Highway 2 in Air Ronge after babysitting his grandchildren when he was hit by a vehicle driven by Cook and killed. Cook plead guilty to impaired driving causing death and served a three-year prison sentence. After sharing a stage with the man who took his brother’s life, Johnson said it took a lot of courage for Cook to speak as he did.

“Imagine how he must feel to be the scorn of the community the way everybody is who is involved in a tragedy like that and stand up and make something good out of it,” Johnson said. “I’m really impressed by him. He has no memory of that night. The last thing he remembers is walking from a house on the reserve to his house. He woke up in the morning and he was told during the night he killed somebody.”

When Cook took the microphone, he told attendees he doesn’t recall the incident, adding what he does know is from circumstantial evidence from police and what others have told him. He stated he went out drinking with a friend and ended up at a house where he visited many times. Cook said the last memory he had of the night was walking through a trail, before waking up the next morning and noticing a dent in the truck.

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Cook noted it wasn’t long before the RCMP showed up and seized the truck. He didn’t remember driving.

“I had gone through this trail numerous times to get to my house after I had been drinking,” Cook said. “The last I recall was going through that trail. That’s the chance you take if you’re going to drink alcohol.”

Johnson stated he was honoured to present alongside Cook, adding he could have easily denied the charges but instead took responsibility for his actions. If Cook is willing to do so again, Johnson said he too would be willing to present to other groups.

“The tragedy for Hillary is he’s never going to know for sure he did that,” Johnson said. “He has an image of himself that says ‘I’m a good person.’ He can’t believe that he did that. Then to stand up and take responsibility for it, that [takes] a lot of courage.”

Last August, Johnson released his eighth book called Clifford, which was named after another brother of his, also killed by a drunk driver in 1985.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno