|
|
|
Ferry crew warned police about teens |
|
|
Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
|
|
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 |
The Francois Lake ferry is seen here.
Related Items
BURNS LAKEBURNS LAKE RCMP STAFF SGTFRANCOIS LAKEMIKE KISTERSNORTH DISTRICT
Police said Tuesday crew members on the Francois Lake ferry called to warn them about a car load of youths, just hours before three Burns Lake teens were killed in a head-on collision just outside Prince George.
The initial description to police from the ferry crew was of four males in the vehicle, but at the time of the crash there were two males and a female, all of whom perished.
"There were beer cans left behind on the deck of the ferry when they drove away, and the crew just had a sense that it wasn't right," said John Harding, owner of Waterbridge Equipment Inc., the operators of the ferry that connects the town of Burns Lake to the communities on the south side of Francois Lake. "We called the police and warned them that there might be a problem, and we understand they followed up with that and did all they could. The police set up to get them, I know that, but it took the teens a lot longer to get to Prince George than the usual travel time so obviously they went some places and did some things in between there somewhere."
Brody Mathews, 17, Torrence Wiebe, 18, and Tamara Charlie, 19, were killed July 5 on Highway 16 in Beaverly when their car crossed the centre line and hit a pickup truck head on.
Burns Lake RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Kisters said police didn't have much to go on, and a domestic dispute in progress diverted some members, but they did search immediately upon receiving the call.
"We got a vague description of the vehicle, no licence number, and there was a delay in the call coming to us because the ferry crew had to offload the ferry's vehicles and clear the ship for departure before they could call. For the next hour and half our members did patrol for it."
Driving posted highway speeds, it takes 15 minutes to drive from the ferry landing to the town of Burns Lake down Highway 35.
At dangerous speeds it has been known to be completed in as little as seven minutes. Police told The Citizen that reports now indicate the vehicle at times reached estimated speeds of 140 kilometres per hour.
Mounties at North District headquarters in Prince George were busy Tuesday collating all the calls that came in to the region's dispatch centre to see if anyone between Burns Lake and Prince George called in an erratic driver matching their description.
"All the people we know who have come forward did so post-collision, they did not report it to the police at the time," said Const. Madonna Saunderson.
"The question is why didn't (witnesses) phone the police?" said Harding, who said his ferry crews frequently encounter impaired drivers and other notable behaviour while motorists wait out the 20 minute crossing on the boat. They frequently deal with police and ambulance crews. "There was a lot of highway there, people should have had plenty of opportunity to call the police."
There were 11 other vehicles and 12 foot passengers on the ferry that night, providing at least 23 other potential witnesses.
"It doesn't just affect the families of the victims," Kisters said. "It affects the emergency workers who have to attend to the incident, it affects the driver of the pickup they hit, how is it affecting their friends? How is it affecting the whole community? These things people do on the road seem so inconsequential when you're in the moment, but you have to put your mind on what could happen and in this case it did happen."
 |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 July 2008 )
|
ColumbusHotelFire_thumb.jpg "Dryer started Columbus fire: chief - A clothes dryer is believed to be the cause of the fire that destroyed the Columbus Hotel. ((PRG102)ColumbusHotelFire.jpg - 1962087)")
Subscribe to this comment's feed