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The semi driver who caused the deaths of two Alberta motorcycle riders, Laurent Isador and Tyler Duboski, was supposed to be sentenced Thursday.
But that sentencing hearing was postponed due to a sudden medical issue with the Crown prosecutor.
Michael Maurice Koochin, 40, of Slave Lake, pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and six counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
His 1995 GMC tractor-trailer wasn’t roadworthy at the time of the crash, which was noted when he was arrested and had 26 charges laid against him in January 2025.
Court heard his insurance had expired earlier in August 2024 due to non-payment when he was hauling rig waste to a landfill on the day of the crash.
More than 30 family and friends of the two men killed prepared victim impact statements to be read at the sentencing, originally set to begin Thursday. It’s not known when it will now be rescheduled for.
The deadly crash on Aug. 31, 2024 happened about 300 km northwest of Edmonton near High Prairie, Alta., where the court proceedings took place.
Isadore, 38, from the Driftpile First Nation and 33-year-old Duboski from Edmonton were both killed when Koochin’s semi tractor-trailer crossed the centre line on Highway 2 near Sucker Creek First Nation and hit their group of motorcycle riders.
They were participating in Red Rum Motorcycle Club’s Red Road to Healing bike run. It was raising awareness and money to help people experiencing homelessness on Treaty 8 territory.
Laurent, who helped organize the ride, was considered a spiritual leader in the community.
Both men were fathers.
“My boy was taken from me in such a horrific way,” Duboski’s grandmother, Leah Dubowski, said. “They let him lay on the highway until I got up there — it took us four hours.”
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While the sentencing was put off for another day, the lawyers agreed to read victim impact statements into the record on Thursday.
Leah brought everyone in the courthouse to tears, including the Crown prosecutor and the judge herself.
“That terrible day will haunt us forever,” she told court.
“The tears that hurt the most aren’t the ones that fall from my eyes and run down my face, they’re the ones that fall from my heart and cover my soul.”
Tyler Duboski’s motorcycle was destroyed in the crash on August 31, 2024.
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Another statement was read by Stacey Sorokowski, whose son Cody Clemente was airlifted to hospital after, in the mayhem of the crash, he was driven over by one of the other motorcycles.
Speaking with Global News four months after the crash, Clemente said he suffered a head injury and extensive bruising on his hip and leg.
Clemente, who was not biologically related to Duboski but close enough to be considered a brother, told Global News he was the first to notice his friend was dead and recalled screaming in anguish.
He couldn’t remember anything else from the crash besides waking up in a STARS Air Ambulance helicopter.
His mother and others who knew him said said the aftermath weighed on Clemente, and they feel it led to his own death 14 months later.
“Cody absolutely died Aug. 31, 2024. His body was here, but he was not,” Sorokowski said.
“Unfortunately, due to his struggles and his PTSD, his life was cut short Dec. 19, 2025.”
John Giroux was the lead rider of the pack, with his teenage son on the back of his bike.
“That was the worst day — ever — in my life,” he said through tears outside the courthouse in High Prairie.
They swerved to avoid the semi, hitting the ditch. The crash left Giroux with injuries to his wrist, forearm and shoulder that have left him unable to work.
Despite driving by the scene every day, for Giroux, it’s painful to remember what happened here.
“As much as I’d like to stop here all the time, I can’t. Because it hurts. There’s too much emotions in these ditches.”
On Sunday Grioux is getting married, with special guests in attendance including Brenda Powder, who was set to marry Isador just a few weeks after his death.
“The only way I can honour my brother is taking his stuff, from his wedding, and using it in mine,” Giroux said. “It’s the only thing we’ve got.”
For fellow Red Rum riders, including Harley Jamerson, remembering the crash is difficult. “I just seen headlights and then I seen blackness until I heard my brother Cody screaming and it woke me up.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
