The woman at the wheel of an SUV involved in a serious hit-and-run on a pedestrian in West Vancouver last month has been ticketed and banned from driving for two years.
On March 11, West Vancouver police put out a call for witnesses after a driver headed south on 15th Street hopped the curb near Esquimalt Avenue and struck a 62-year-old man from behind.
At the time, police said she continued driving at least half a block with the victim on the hood of her SUV before she slowed down and he fell off. She fled the scene, leaving pieces of her Toyota RAV4 on the sidewalk.
The next day, police spotted the suspect vehicle parked not far away from the scene of the crash and identified the driver, a 79-year-old West Vancouver woman. Forensic investigators confirmed evidence left at the scene came from her vehicle.
After interviewing her, police charged the woman with driving without due care and failing to remain at the scene of an accident, $732 in total fines.
Const. Kevin Goodmurphy, West Vancouver police spokesman, could not say what was going on in the car in the moments leading up to the crash.
“We believe the driver was the sole occupant so we have no witnesses to say one way or another what was happening, what that person was doing at the time of the incident and impact,” he said.
But because of the seriousness of the incident, police also submitted a report to B.C.’s superintendent of motor vehicles, who later added a two-year driving ban for the woman, effective April 7.
“Really in this case, it comes down to high-risk driving and the amount of risk associated to this person as long as they’re behind the wheel of a motor vehicle,” Goodmurphy said.
The victim required surgery on his arm. He was released from hospital a week after the crash, according to police.
Because the driver’s charges are under the Motor Vehicle Act and not the Criminal Code of Canada, her name is not released in publicly accessible court documents.
