Charges have been filed in connection with the death of Zélia Araujo, the woman killed after being struck by a vehicle that left the scene on Sunday.
The three charges are laid out in an arrest warrant filed against Steven Harley Pinnell, 33, the Sault Ste-Marie, Ont., resident who was arrested Tuesday in Ontario after he was pulled over by police while he was driving a Chevrolet Silverado. The police suspect the same vehicle was the one involved in Araujo’s death. The Ontario Provincial Police pulled over the vehicle while responding to traffic complaints that it was swerving on a highway Tuesday morning.
Pinnell was arrested after police realized the vehicle had been reported as stolen in the Montreal area.
The three charges listed in the warrant at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday allege that Pinnell was behind the wheel of the Silverado when Araujo was killed. He is accused of “having caused the death of Zélia Araujo knowing that (she) died or being reckless as to whether her death would result” from having been struck. The charge comes with a maximum life sentence upon conviction.
Another charge alleges that Pinnell stole the Silverado sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept 26. A third charge alleges he was in possession of the stolen vehicle for roughly a week.
