Man who killed off-duty Abbotsford police officer sentenced
Posted January 11, 2024 4:55 pm.
The man found guilty of manslaughter in the 2020 death of an off-duty Abbotsford Police officer in Nelson has been sentenced.
Police say Alex Willness was sentenced Thursday to five years, less time served, with a credit of 405 days.
Const. Allan Young was taken to the hospital in critical condition on July 16, 2020. He had been assaulted while intervening in what was described as “a disturbance” in the B.C. Interior community, being hit in the head with a skateboard.
The 55-year-old died days later.
Willness was eventually arrested and charged in connection the case, and was found guilty in June 2023.
“Today’s sentencing of Mr. Willness has been a long time coming. It is clear from the evidence presented at trial that Cst. Young’s death was senseless and unnecessary,” the Abbotsford Police Department said in a statement Thursday.
“We are glad that the prosecution resulted in the conviction of Mr. Willness for Manslaughter and that he has been sentenced. However, nothing will bring Cst. Young back to his loving family or back to us at the AbbyPD. Cst. Young and his family remain in our thoughts and our hearts.”
In addition to the sentence, police say Willness has been ordered to provide DNA samples and has been handed a lifetime firearms prohibition.
Young joined the APD in 2004. He spent his 16 years with the department in patrol as well as the Drug Enforcement Unit.
According to the department, Young was born and raised in Dumbarton, Scotland, before he immigrated to Canada in 1997. He joined the Toronto Police Service a few years later, in 2000.
