The Montreal Gazette reports that former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant has been charged with criminal negligence and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in connection with the death of a cyclist in downtown Toronto on Monday night.
Bryant--who early in his legal career worked at Sullivan & Cromwell and McCarthy Tetrault--was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1999 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party. He was reelected in 2003 and was appointed AG when the Liberals won control of the provincial government.
After leaving the AG's office in 2007, Bryant served stints as Ontario's minister of aboriginal affairs and minister of economic development, where he helped negotiate the province's participation in the bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors. He left politics in May to become CEO of Invest Toronto, a quasi-governmental agency founded to engage the private sector in promoting Toronto as a business center.
On Monday night, Bryant's career took a tragic turn. The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that details emerging about the accident suggest the cyclist had been drinking and was involved in an earlier incident with police before Bryant drove his black convertible Saab down a one-way street.
Toronto police told reporters that a "verbal confrontation" and some "minor contact" occurred between the 33-year-old cyclist and the car driven by the 43-year-old Bryant in the period just before the accident. At some point, police suggest, the cyclist became attached to Bryant's vehicle and was dragged for roughly 100 meters before falling to the street.
The man died in a hospital later that night. Police took Bryant into custody at a nearby Hyatt hotel after he allegedly alerted authorities to his location. He has since retained Andrew Evangelista from Toronto's Evangelista, Barristers & Solicitors to represent him.
Bryant is married to Susan Abramovitch, an entertainment partner at Toronto firm Gowling Lafleur Henderson.
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