Deputy fire chief avoids street-racing fine

COBOURG–A top Toronto fire official charged under street-racing laws has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of speeding.

Deputy Fire chief Daryl Fuglerud admitted through his lawyer in provincial court in Cobourg on Wednesday that he drove 50 km/h over the speed limit on Hwy. 401 near Port Hope in June. He was fined $343.

Fuglerud, 53, was on his way to the funeral of a retired firefighter in the Kingston area when police clocked him driving a department SUV at 150 km/h. He was charged under the street-racing and stunt-driving legislation passed in May 2008.

Outside court his lawyer Robbie Levita said the "career man and family man" was not racing, stunting or driving at a "horrendous" speed. Levita couldn't explain why Fuglerud, who's been with the city's fire department for 28 years, was going so fast.

"He's extremely remorseful, that's why he pled guilty," Levita said, adding that Fuglerud ended up missing the funeral because the vehicle, which belongs to Toronto Fire Services, was impounded for seven days, and his licence was suspended for a week.

In an agreed statement of facts in the Ontario Court of Justice, police clocked the red Toyota Highlander from the air doing 143, 147 and 150 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.

If he had been convicted of racing, he would have faced a fine between $2,000 and $10,000.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino championed the street-racing law as a way to decrease the "senseless carnage" on Ontario highways, vowing it will do so "one irresponsible driver at a time."

Toronto Star