Memorial going up in Ajax for Oshawa man killed by drunk driver
Published November 17, 2021 at 1:53 pm
![](https://durham.insauga.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Richard-Lindsey.jpg)
The Town of Ajax and MADD Canada will install a memorial sign for Richard Lindsey, an Oshawa man killed by a drunk driver, on the third anniversary of his death.
The sign, emblazoned with Lindsey’s name and the MADD ribbon will sit near the accident scene on the southwest corner of Salem Road and Achilles Road.
Lindsey, 50, was a Paragon security guard on-shift the night of November 19, 2018. That evening he assisted Durham Police in stopping a different drunk driver. DRPS later officially cited Lindsey as a hero for his efforts and presented a plaque the Lindsey’s family.
Hours later around three a.m. Lindsey was driving in Chevy Equinox down Salem Road when a BMW SUV driven by Melanie St. Louis, then 42, exited the 401 and smashed into him. St. Louis collided with Lindsey with enough force to demolish both vehicles.
Lindsey was found without vital signs and later pronounced dead in hospital.
When firefighters removed St. Louis from her SUV they reported the smell of alcohol and her heavily slurred speech. Later blood and breath tests found St. Louis, a G1 driver, had at least twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system.
St. Louis pled guilty to impaired driving causing death on January 7, 2019. She was later sentenced to 4 and half years in prison. “I will never be able to forgive myself for what I have done,” she said in court.
Lindsey’s memorial will be raised by members of his family and representatives from the Town and MADD Canada will be installed at 10 a.m. November 19.
MADD Canada aid in a release, they “thank Richard’s family for their courage, and the Town of Ajax for its leadership in honouring victims of impaired driving.”
The sign will stand for a year. MADD calls the memorial, “a powerful symbol of remembrance and a reminder to the public about the dangers of driving impaired.”
INdurham's Editorial Standards and Policies