By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
A Ridgetown man was sentenced to just over 11 months in jail in the vehicular death of a 66-year-old woman in Ridgetown three years ago.
Wendy Clark, of Morpeth, suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a car in downtown Ridgetown on Oct. 19, 2022.
She died two days later in a Windsor hospital.
John Wilson, 40, learned of his sentence from Chatham-Kent Assistant Crown Scott Kerwin in a Chatham court on Nov. 14.
The Ridgetown man pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and failing to remain at the scene of a collision resulting in bodily harm.
Chatham-Kent Police also laid an impaired driving charge against Wilson.
That charge, however, was dropped due to conflicting evidence in 2024.
According to previously published media reports, Mrs. Clark had just stepped out of her vehicle on Main St. and was about to cross the street to go to a pharmacy when she was struck.
Her common-law partner and two-year-old nephew were in the vehicle when she was struck.
The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene.
However, witness statements and surveillance video helped Chatham-Kent Police identify the driver, who was located and arrested.
He was originally charged with failing to remain at a collision resulting in bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and two related Highway Traffic Act offences.
Wendy’s family have been advocates for safe driving – namely, impaired and distracted driving – since the accident.
The family sponsors a $500 scholarship annually in the Drive Safe, Someone Loves You, Wendy Clark Memorial Award essay contest. Secondary school students are asked to write an essay on the actions a passenger can take when riding in a vehicle being driven by an impaired or distracted driver.
The family sold key chains, with the ‘Drive Safe Someone Loves You’ slogan and the initials ‘WC’ for Wendy Clark, to finance the scholarship.
Anonymous donors funded a memorial bench with the same inscription, along with ‘In Loving Memory of Wendy Clark,’ located in front of the Riverside Ice Cream store.
Family members attended the Nov. 14 sentencing and were naturally upset that the guilty party received less than a year in jail for Mrs. Clark’s death.
“It’s been an exhausting, emotional three-plus years,” Rachel Mattsson, Wendy’s daughter, said in a statement to the Ridgetown Independent News. “No amount of time would suffice for the void I have for losing my mom.”
“Eleven months certainly isn’t close to enough to bring justice,” she said. “I do not wish this on anyone.”
“Drive safe, someone loves you,” Rachel concluded.
