man pleads guilty to fatal 2022 hit-and-run

A man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a Squamish hit-and-run in 2022 that claimed the life of a mother and injured another woman.

On Sept. 2, 2022, 44-year-old Gurpreet Sangha was struck by the driver of a pick-up truck while waiting for a bus in Squamish.

Mounties say the vehicle “flipped over a sidewalk” and drove through a chain-link fence before running into Sangha and another woman.

Both Sangha and the other woman suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital, where Sangha died on Sept. 16.

At the time, the Sea to Sky RCMP explained that the women were pinned under the truck and the driver was trapped inside.

“A number of people witnessed the accident and immediately ran to help. They lifted the truck and helped pull the women out from underneath. After this, these good Samaritans helped the man from the truck, who then ran away,” said Insp. Robert Dykstra.

Sangha’s family said she was a beloved mother of two teens, a wife, daughter, sister, and friend to many.

In an update Thursday, Mounties say John Cernos pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm, impaired driving causing death, and failing to remain at the scene of a collision on Jan. 23, 2025.

Police say he was charged in November of 2023, and sentencing for his crimes will take place “at a later date.”

—With files from Monika Gul