Man who hit flagger with truck found guilty

A B.C. contractor accused of running down a construction flagger has been found guilty of assault with a weapon.

Michael Paul Biemans hit flagger Paul White with his vehicle in November 2010 at a construction site in New Westminster.

The Crown argued Biemans drove his truck past safety cones on a partially closed street and when White tried flag him to a stop, he was hit.

White was not hurt but was traumatized by the incident according to his co-worker Diane Herback, founder of the B.C. Flagging Association.

Herback welcomes the guilty verdict.

"We won one. We finally got some justice for one of our own," she said. "We have to worry about people on their cell phones and now the contractors are hitting us. It's crazy."

Herback said the verdict sends a strong message to other drivers in B.C.

"It's also stating that we're not taking it anymore," she said. "We are not going to be the victims of unsafe drivers anymore."

Biemans represented himself at the one-day trial March 9.