The Edmonton Sun (Edmonton, Canada)
JASPER, Alberta, Canada (CP) -- Police have charged a B.C. woman in a highway tragedy that killed one person and injured nearly a dozen others.
Faye Joanna DeWetter, 21, of Fort. St. John, B.C. faces 14 charges, including dangerous driving causing death, flight from a police officer, and theft over $5,000 for the crash at an intersection outside the resort town on Thursday.
“The charges reflect the seriousness of the incident,” said Const. Darren Anderson from the RCMP K Division Saturday.
The crash, which threw some victims up to 30 metres, killed So-Kow “Rita” Shum, 50, from Toronto.
Police said they began chasing the stolen truck after the driver took off from a gas station without paying east of Valemount, B.C.
Jasper RCMP set out to intercept it in an unmarked vehicle equipped with a spike belt. But the truck’s speed took police by surprise just 12 kilometres outside Jasper.
Officers said they briefly gave chase at speeds up to 160 kilometres an hour, but called off the chase as the truck approached the town.
The truck, which had already blown past three police cars, t-boned into the SUV in which Shum was riding. She was one of eight in a group of family and friends holidaying in the national park.
Police said the truck ran a red light at the intersection.
Eleven people were taken to hospital. Five of them, including two boys aged eight and nine and the 21-year-old driver of the truck, remained in serious but stable condition in Edmonton on Friday. Others were treated in Jasper.
Jasper RCMP Cpl. Glen Pelley said Shum “didn’t appear” to have been wearing a seat belt.
RCMP believe the woman may have been thrown backwards, hitting the seat the two boys were in and causing them to be thrown from the vehicle.
All but one of the travellers in the Suburban were from Ontario. The other was from British Columbia.
The four occupants of the truck, including a 14-year-old-boy who was treated and released, were from Fort St. John, B.C.
DeWetter remains in police custody and will appear in Jasper Provincial Court on August 26.
Two passengers in the truck have also been charged with theft.
Shawn Oppenheimer, 22, and Tiffany La Fountain, 18, have been released but will return to court on September 9.
RCMP officials didn’t know Saturday whether the 14-year-old boy would be charged.