Hang-glider pilot charged in passenger’s death
Posted February 15, 2013 7:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
AGASSIZ (NEWS1130) – A hang-glider pilot is facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death nearly a year after a passenger fell more than 300 metres in Agassiz.
A court list says William Orders will appear in a Chilliwack court on Monday on that charge as well as one count of obstructing justice.
The accident took place April 28, 2012 when Lenami Godinez-Avila who was a passenger on a tandem flight with Orders slipped out of her harness about 30 seconds after takeoff.
The 27-year-old Godinez-Avila had been celebrating her two-year anniversary with her boyfriend, who was next in line to go for a glider ride, but instead watched her fall.
It took searchers about eight hours to locate her body in a clearcut.
Following the tragedy, police held Orders in custody for a week on an accusation that he had swallowed a digital video disk that investigators considered key evidence.
Orders had released a statement that he is sincerely and deeply sorry and wished the day would have turned out differently.
