London 'Guilty'; young man pleads guilty to impaired causing death in crash that killed 11-year-old St. Thomas boy Share For the first time since losing their 11-year-old son, the family of Aiden Curtis of St. Thomas got a look at the man who caused his death.
Accompanied by his parents and lawyer, Nicholas Lemke, age 20, walked into the Elgin County Courthouse Tuesday and plead guilty to three charges. “It’s unreal, he’s just a kid himself, so very young,” said Sarah Payne, Aiden’s mother, who has been attending court for close to a year, waiting for this day. In front of Justice Glen Donald, Lemke plead guilty to impaired causing the death of Curtis, 11, and impaired causing bodily harm to Carol Wilson and Mark Lavallee who both suffered multiple injuries when they were struck by the pickup truck driven by Lemke.
In an agreed statement of facts, Lemke had a blood alcohol level of 140 mg/100 ml blood. He was driving west on Talbot St. in St.
Thomas in the left turn lane at Caso Crossing, when he veered right and struck multiple people on the sidewalk in front of the former Brunswick Tavern, including the 11-year-old Curtis. He was pinned under the truck, and died instantaneously from blunt force trauma. In the joint statement by Crown Attorney David Rose and defence attorney Keli Mersereau - read aloud by Rose - Lemke had been drinking a combination of beer and whisky, and there was a bottle of whisky in the vehicle.
In a jam-packed courtroom, Lemke had a dozen fam.