Berto released awaiting appeal of Pine Plaza convictions

Nicholas Berto was released from custody today pending an appeal of his convictions for dangerous driving causing bodily harm and fleeing an accident scene.

At a hearing Friday in Toronto, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted the 20-year-old bail as he waits for the province's highest court to hear his case.

Superior Court Justice Annalisa Rasaiah sentenced him Tuesday to two years custody for running over Paul VanderGriendt in the early morning hours of March 12, 2016, and then speeding away from the bar parking lot without stopping to offer assistance.

Paul VanderGriendt, a Sault College aviation instructor, received life-threatening injuries that left him a quadriplegic.

Berto was behind the wheel of his jacked-up, knobby-tired truck when he struck the then 25-year-old victim following an altercation with a group of people outside of The Harp Bar and Grill in the Pine Plaza.

A jury found him guilty of the charges in May.

He was released Friday on a recognizance in the amount of $100,000 (no deposit), with his parents Deborah and Robert Berto Jr. as sureties.

The court imposed a number of conditions, including a requirement that he live with his parents, report to the city police on the first Wednesday of every month, deposit his passport with the police service and not leave the province.

As well, he must be with a surety at all times, except while at his residence and work, and travelling to and from work between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Berto is not to operate nor be in the driver's seat of a vehicle.

He is prohibited from possessing weapons and having alcohol or intoxicating substance.

Also Berto can have no contact with a number of people, including the victim and his family members.

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