MISSISSAUGA

A firefighter’s acquittal almost 15 months after the fire truck he drove killed Kimberley Schulz in a controversial crash is “entirely unacceptable,” her husband told reporters.

Vowing Monday to lobby Ontario’s government for changes and saying “Kim was not one to take things lightly,” Rob Schulz called the Highway Traffic Act a “toothless piece of legislation.”

Flanked by his wife’s brother, Toronto firefighter Steve Bayley, and mother-in-law Barb Bayley, Schulz, 53, said her death on March 6, 2011, while driving home after playing hockey was a “preventable error of incredible proportions.”

Outside the Ontario Court of Justice on Burnhamthorpe Rd., where he refused to answer questions before reading a prepared statement, the widower also demanded judges hear such cases instead of justices of the peace.

After justice of the peace Hilda Weiss dismissed Jarrett Johns’ charge of failing to stop for a red light and left the courtroom, a woman with the widower called the ruling “bulls---.”

As Johns, 37, of Toronto, wiped at a tear, she scornfully snapped: “Go live a happy life!”

The acquitted firefighter then hurried outside with his wife and friends, brushing past reporters before boarding a waiting car.

Weiss earlier said she did not entirely believe his claim to have obeyed traffic regulations before continuing into the Britannia Rd. W.-Rodeo Dr. intersection while en route to a Hwy. 401 crash site.

She said the Highway Traffic Act allows emergency vehicles to go through red lights — after a driver stops to make sure “it is safe to do so.”

But Weiss concluded “conflicting evidence” left her with too much “reasonable doubt” to convict Johns.

Some drivers testified they did not hear his pumper’s siren. Others testified it was blaring a warning and they saw its flashing lights.

Witnesses also differed about whether the temporary signal lights installed during road construction turned green, yellow or red.

An expert who tested the automatic signal system that triggers lights to change when activated by an approaching fire truck’s emergency signal said it was working that day, but the detector “was not aligned properly,” Weiss said.

During the trial in March, which heard from 19 witnesses including firefighters and Peel Regional Police officers, she said Johns’ defence lawyer recommended the case belongs in a civil court.

The firefighter faced a $1,000 fine if convicted.