Elderly drunk driver who killed two passengers jailed 4 years

Eric Kannstadter has led a long, decent life, except for one problem — his drinking.

“A functioning alcoholic,” he doesn’t drink constantly but finds it hard to stop at one glass.

He’s often the last to leave the bar or a party. He’s tried and failed at treatment programs.

So it was with three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood that the then 70-year-old retiree set out in his Hyundai Elantra on a Friday morning 3 ½ years ago to drive two elderly ladies, fellow residents in an Etobicoke seniors’ home, for their customary shopping trip.

They were almost safely home when he misjudged a curve on Bergamot Ave., near Islington Ave. and Rexdale Blvd., and slammed head-on into an oncoming TTC bus, killing the two women.

Laura Dupuis, 82, and her friend Eileen Broadhurst, 81, were rushed to hospital, where they died within days.

On Thursday, the frail 73-year-old man stood unsteadily as Ontario Superior Court Justice David Aston sentenced him to four years in prison.

The judge also banned him from driving for life, a penalty he didn’t oppose.

The judge, who received victim impact statements from Dupuis’s family, said he was struck by the magnitude of their loss.

“Laura Dupuis was a huge and important part of many lives,” he said.

In a trial earlier this year, Aston found Kannstadter guilty of impaired driving and two counts of impaired driving causing death.

A woman testified that Kannstadter drank a scotch at about 11 p.m. the night before the Oct. 19, 2007 accident. “I have a strong suspicion that Mr. Kannstadter did not leave it at one drink that night,” Aston said.

However, the judge in his ruling also said that: “He was a good provider for his family and maintained gainful employment before his retirement.

“Mr. Kannstadter was a productive member of society for many years and supported his family before retirement. His son says, ‘Alcoholism never made him a bad father,’” the judge noted in his ruling.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Travers sought a seven-year penitentiary sentence, noting Kannstadter’s previous convictions.

One is for driving over the legal alcohol limit and another is for careless driving in which alcohol may have played a role.

Defence lawyer David North asked for two or three years in jail, noting that his client, who uses a walker and has suffered a stroke, is approaching the end of his life.

The judge noted that Kannstadter has expressed remorse, apologizing to the families.

But Aston observed that “there is a world of difference between regret over the outcome of what happened that day and regret that he did not act differently at the time.”

Perhaps Kannstadter has difficulty accepting responsibility because he has no memory of the collision, owing to the head injury he sustained, the judge said.

Outside court, Dupuis’s family recalled an energetic, thoughtful mother of six, who had worked for many years for the Scott Mission and was still a volunteer with a food bank.

“I’m content with the sentence,” said one of her daughters, Linda Cowles, adding that the family was concerned that Kannstadter should never again get behind the wheel.

“Hopefully this sends the message to people that drink and drive,” said another daughter, Melanie Cole.

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