WARNING: Details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
Horrific details emerged Thursday at a sentencing hearing for two Indian nationals who, according to the Crown, deliberately dragged a man they struck with their vehicle for 1.3 kilometres through Surrey – before dumping his body in the street.
The men, both 22, came to Canada on international student visas and are now facing deportation after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop at an accident and offer assistance, and interfering with a dead body.
“It’s hard to imagine a more extreme form of dangerous driving than driving with a person stuck under one’s vehicle,” said the Crown.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Gaganpreet Singh, Jagdeep Singh and a third individual who was never charged – were driving around Surrey in a red Ford Mustang in the early hours of Jan. 27, 2024.
Around 1:38 a.m., they left a pizza shop on 102 Avenue near King George Boulevard with Gaganpreet at the wheel of the Mustang owned by Jagdeep, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
At the same time, two witnesses driving north on University Drive noticed a man lying on the roadway and called 911 at 1:41 a.m.
Seconds later court heard, Gaganpreet struck the man, later identified as Jason Albert Grey.
The impact occurred as one of the two witnesses was on the phone with a 911 operator.
Both witnesses, said the Crown, saw the Mustang hit Grey but didn’t see the victim after and assumed he was being dragged.
Chilling audio from the 911 call was played in court.
After the caller states “There’s a man lying in the middle of the road”, voices can be heard saying “Oh my God, Oh my God, someone just hit him”, followed by “Oh my God, where is he?” and “Oh my God, he’s stuck under the car.”
According to the agreed statement of facts, Gaganpreet stopped briefly at 105A Avenue and University Drive – where he and Jagdeep exited the vehicle and looked at, and under its front.
At 1:42 a.m., friends of the accused pulled up in another vehicle, followed by the SUV of the two witnesses, which also stopped.
“Hey man, there’s a man underneath your car,” the witness is heard saying on the 911 recording.
Gaganpreet, said Crown, drove away with Grey still under the vehicle.
Surveillance video, said the Crown, shows the witness standing by the road as the accused accelerates away with the victim’s body stuck to the vehicle.
After Gaganpreet unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the body on 132nd Street by pulling forward, stopping and reversing, the prosecutor said he and Jagdeep pulled into a cul de sac and “worked in concert to dislodge the victim’s badly mangled body”.
By this time, said the Crown, the victim was deceased.
Surveillance video entered as an exhibit during the sentencing hearing shows Jagdeep reversing the Mustang while Gaganpreet holds onto the victim, in what was eventually a successful effort to dislodge the body.
Grey suffered horrific injuries court heard, and died as a result of being hit and dragged by the Mustang.
Gaganpreet’s hand, court heard, contained the victim’s DNA.
The Crown said the accused’s reactions after finding out they had hit someone, are what make it such a serious offence.
Instead of assisting the victim, Gaganpreet drove away with Grey trapped under the Mustang while Jagdeep allowed his co-accused to drive away in his car.
“They acted with utter indifference to (the victim’s) life and well-being,” said the Crown.
In victim impact statements read by the Crown, Grey’s widow, identified only as Y.G., said her husband’s life was taken at 45 – “the innocent victim of a horrible, horrible crime”. “They treated him like a piece of garbage – dumping him on the side of the road,” she wrote.
Y.G. said her husband, who Crown noted is Indigenous, could not receive a culturally appropriate burial.
She said her family had not heard a word from the three occupants of the vehicle to express any remorse or apology.
“J.G. was a fighter, he was a Sundancer, he was strong and he had a lot to live for,” wrote Y.G. “The loss of his voice and spirit will be deeply missed.”
In her victim impact statement, Grey’s mother-in-law, C.S., wrote “What they did was an unimaginable, brutal cruelty, it did not need to happen that way.”
She said J.G. was a loving father, good human being, and a kind soul who thought of others before himself.
Both Gaganpreet and Jagdeep addressed the court and apologized to the victim’s family.
“I never intended to do this thing,” said Gaganpreet through a Punjabi interpreter. “It just happened by mistake because I was scared.”
In a joint sentencing submission, both the Crown and defence counsel are seeking three years in jail for Gaganpreet and a three-year driving ban.
Gaganpreet’s lawyer, Gagan Nahal, noted his client has no criminal record, entered early guilty pleas and has demonstrated remorse.
Because he acted as the getaway driver after the body was dislodged and continued to make controversial comments about his degree of responsibility, the Crown said it is seeking a higher sentence of four years for Jagdeep, and a three-year driving ban.
Court heard Jagdeep’s Mustang has been forfeited.
In arguing for a two-year conditional sentence, Jagdeep’s counsel told the court her client is deeply remorseful, the offence was “out of character” for him, and he has no prior criminal history in India or Canada.
Provincial court judge Mark Jette has reserved his decision.
Once sentenced, the Crown said the Canada Border Services Agency will be seeking to deport both men.