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REVIEW RICHMONDREVIEW.COM
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2014
40 PAGES
No criminal charges in 2013 fatal crash involving speeding car Mechanical failure a possibility in May 2013 collision at Knight Street and Westminster Highway by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter Witnesses used the words “gruesome” and “war zone” to describe the aftermath of the fatal May 8, 2013 crash at Knight Street and Westminster Highway involving a speeding exotic car that inexplicably slammed into the back of seven other vehicles stopped at a red light. The mid-afternoon crash on a sunny spring day claimed the life of a 44-year-old Richmond woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and seriously injured many others, at least one of whom had to be rushed to hospital by an air ambulance helicopter. For the past 10 months, many have wondered what came of the police investigation, many e-mailing or calling The Richmond Review seeking answers. Now there are a few answers, which are prompting many more questions. The Richmond Review has learned that the Richmond RCMP investigation has been concluded, and no criminal charges will be laid against the female driver in the $200,000 Aston Martin DB9, a rare convertible made famous in the most recent iteration of the James Bond superspy movies, with fewer than 10 made available in Canada annually. “The Richmond RCMP are not pursuing criminal charges,” Richmond RCMP Cpl. Stephanie Ashton said Thursday. “The matter has been referred to ICBC.” Ashton said she could not release further details. But The Review has learned that mechanical failure is suspected as the cause of the crash, which saw, according to one witness, the Aston Martin travelling at an estimated 200
Sukhwant Dhillon file photo Police will not pursue criminal charges in the horrific May 8, 2013 crash which killed one woman and injured many others.
km/h when it ran through a red light at No. 6 Road and Westminster Highway before heading west and striking seven other vehicles stopped at the Knight Street intersection. The witness, Elizabeth Willis, a flagger for Imperial Paving which had a repaving crew working along Westminster Highway at the time, said she
“saw a car, I heard a car going extremely fast, 200 kilometres per hour, right through a red light, almost T-boned another vehicle, went straight through...and hit the cars sitting at the red light.” She said she heard the black car’s “roaring engine” and then moments later witnessed “cars flying up in the air, and there was smoke,
and I shut down the road immediately.” Michelle Titleborn was at the scene shortly after it happened, and what she saw was hard to forget. “When I drove by, the crash had just happened,” she wrote in an e-mail. See Page 3
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