Lethbridge man given 8 years for 2024 impaired driving crash

A police officer arrives at the provincial court building in Lethbridge, Alta., Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

A Lethbridge man who the court said was ‘grossly intoxicated’ at the time he crashed head-on with another vehicle carrying a family of four has pleaded guilty to his crimes.

On April 22, Mark Briggs was sentenced to eight years in jail, minus time served, for five charges related to the crash on Aug. 20, 2024.

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In February, the Alberta Court of Justice in Lethbridge heard that Briggs and his seven-year-old son, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, were driving from Lethbridge to Calgary for a trip to visit Briggs’ mother in Nova Scotia.

The same day, the Loria family was returning to Alberta from California after a family trip. Joanna Loria was driving, with her 16-year-old son Giuseppe in the front passenger seat. Loria’s daughters, Sophia, 18, and Alessia, 13, were riding in the back seat.

Just before midnight, the two vehicles were involved in a head-on crash on Highway 3, just west of Coalhurst.

According to video evidence from the dash cam inside Briggs’ vehicle, he was driving eastbound toward Lethbridge in the westbound lanes.

Following the impact, the Lorias’ vehicle caught fire, but Giuseppe – with a fractured spine – rescued his sisters.

“All of the victims, in both families, were transported immediately to the hospital for life-saving care,” Justice K.R. Ailsby said in her decision.

“However, the youngest Loria child, Alessia, did not survive the event. She died two days following the collision at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, where her sister, brother, and mother were also receiving treatment for the injuries they sustained.”

Ailsby added Briggs was impaired at the time of the crash.

“Blood samples obtained determined his blood alcohol concentration to range from .276 per cent to .308 per cent at the time of the collision – which is three and a half to four times the legal limit,” she wrote.

Briggs’ son is now with his step-grandfather after the court determined his father was no longer fit to care for him.

The crash left the boy with extensive injuries that resulted in his paralysis, leaving him limited to leg braces, a walker and a wheelchair.

“Mr. Relf (Briggs’ stepfather) testified how Mr. Briggs’ son misses his father, loves him so very much, aches to see him more than he does, and looks forward to every visit,” Ailsby wrote.

“This child feels this way, all the while knowing that the cause of the collision and all the subsequent pain and suffering, including his own, was unilaterally caused by his dad choosing to drive while impaired by alcohol.”

The Loria family also said they are living with daily physical and emotional pain “solely because of the offence.”

“Joanna, Sophia, and Guiseppe Loria described, by way of articulate, thoughtful, and thorough victim impact statements, how the events of Aug. 20 radically and negatively transformed their family dynamics with complexities they feel unprepared to manage, not only because their bodies physically hurt, but because they are living without their sister and daughter, Alyssia, whom they loved so very much,” Ailsby wrote.

Briggs’ sentencing decision

Ailsby said Briggs has been in custody since April 17, 2025, after his bail was revoked following his struggles with alcohol abuse.

She said a fit sentence in the case needed to be based on aggravating or mitigating circumstances, balanced with sentences for other offenders and must consider all available sanctions.

Despite the circumstances of the incident, Ailsby said Briggs pleaded guilty and has shown remorse.

“He has unequivocally accepted responsibility for his offence and is genuinely remorseful for having created such widespread destruction and harm in the lives of his son and the Loria family,” she wrote.

“He is so very sorry for all his behaviour on Aug. 20, 2024.”

She also found that Briggs knew he was an alcoholic and failed and/or refused to seek treatment. He also continued to drive in the community, engaging “in a sustained pattern of reckless driving.”

“He drove impaired for a significant period, in both urban and rural settings. He set his course in the wrong direction on a well-lit, divided highway with multiple lanes,” Ailsby said.

“He was confronted by multiple warning signs, which read ‘wrong way’ and ‘do not enter’ and yet he proceeded. He passed by multiple turnouts, where he could have pulled his car over, but he chose not to. Moreover, he ignored the efforts of other drivers to change his course – efforts that even his seven-year-old son observed and pointed out to his father.”

As a result, Ailsby sentenced Briggs to five and a half years for impaired driving causing the death of Alessia, two and a half years for impaired driving causing bodily harm to his son and 30 months – served concurrently – with the other two sentences.

With time served, Briggs has almost seven years left on his sentence.