Bre McAdam
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Family members of a man killed on an electric scooter by a drunk driver say they still can’t fathom how 25-year-old Austin “Auzi” Walker was left alone on a north end Saskatoon road to die.
They expressed the sentiment through victim impact statements read in Saskatoon provincial court during the sentencing hearing for 40-year-old Wade Scott Chaboyer.
“He deserved dignity, and you were a coward. People make mistakes, but you intentionally chose yours, and now he’s gone forever,” one relative said.
Two courtrooms filled with people listened as Walker’s father Chet tearfully described key moments that will never happen again.
He won’t see Walker stop by work with coffees and good news about his life. His sister won’t have him over for supper. The family won’t get to see him play baseball or hockey, the sports he loved.
Then there’s the agonizing ache of missed birthdays, holidays and family get-togethers.
“An entire future has been stolen, not just from him, but from all of us,” his sister Madison said.
Last month, Chaboyer pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. On June 30, he received a jail term of two years less a day, followed by probation for three years and a five-year driving ban.
Crown prosecutor Monique Lambert-Wignes and defence lawyer Ron Piché jointly proposed the sentence, which Judge Bruce Bauer accepted.
Court heard the sentence accounted for Chaboyer’s guilty plea and lack of prior criminal record, as well as triable charter issues.
It also acknowledged that his blood-alcohol reading was twice the legal limit, that he was driving 68 kilometres per hour in a 60 km/hr speed zone, and that he left the scene of the fatal crash and drove home.
An agreed statement of facts state police got a flurry of calls around 3:15 a.m. on June 22, 2024 reporting a man’s body in the northbound lane of the overpass at Warman Road and Circle Drive.
According to a Google Maps address found on his nearby cellphone, Walker appeared to be going to his home on Russell Road in Silverwood, where he lived with two roommates, when Chaboyer hit him from behind in the left lane.
GPS data showed he’d rented the scooter downtown at 2:45 a.m., and was hit at 3:05 a.m., Lambert-Wignes said.
Officers followed the tracks left by a damaged vehicle to a home on Edward Avenue in the city’s nearby North Park neighbourhood. They found a 2019 Chevrolet Cruze parked half in the alley and half on a driveway.
“This vehicle had extensive damage to the driver side windshield, and an orange rental scooter stuck to the driver side bumper of the vehicle,” Lambert-Wignes said, adding Walker’s shoe was still on the scooter.
Chaboyer was seen on a security camera pulling into the driveway at 3:09 a.m., getting out of the car and trying to pull the scooter out of the grill before going into the house.
He was arrested an hour later for failing to remain at the scene of a crash, and subsequently charged with impaired driving after officers noticed “slurred speech, a thousand-yard stare and glossy and red eyes,” the facts state.
Chaboyer admitted to police and paramedics that he’d consumed alcohol that night. Court heard two breath samples taken around 5:30 a.m. showed blood-alcohol readings of .17 and .16, and he was swaying, stumbling and having trouble following directions.
Chaboyer said he was at a staff party at Winston’s English Pub and “drank beer all night” before taking a cab home. He then decided to drive his car to a friend’s after-party.
“He didn’t see anyone on the road. He thought he hit someone or something, but was in shock and didn’t know what to do,” Lambert-Wignes said, reiterating what Chaboyer told police.
“That’s why he didn’t call 9-1-1.”
Acknowledging the devastation Chaboyer caused, Piché said: “I would like the family to know that Wade is not an evil man.”
Court heard Chaboyer grew up in Cumberland House, where he excelled in sports and school despite a difficult childhood. He worked for Saskatoon Tribal Council as a student-parent support worker in schools, but resigned after falling into a deep depression.
Piché said at the time of the crash, Chaboyer had combined his ADHD medication with alcohol for the first time. Sometimes good people make bad choices, especially when they’ve been drinking, he added.
In a soft voice, Chaboyer told Walker’s family “I’m sorry” before being taken away to jail.
The fatal crash was “completely avoidable” — a phrase repeated by lawyers and the Walker family.
“My brother should still be here. He should be laughing with us and building his future, loving and being loved.
The choice to drive drunk ended all of that.”
