On Jan. 30 while walking along Ospika Boulevard, an SUV struck Stanley Heavysides. He later succumbed to his injuries.
According to Citizen reporter Frank Peebles, the incident happened after a vehicle allegedly driven by Sandra Cassidy, 68, travelled erratically along Ospika Boulevard on a serpentine path covering more than a city block, doing damage to property on both sides of the road as it crossed the centre median twice.
The vehicle hit Heavysides continued across the intersection and then struck a tree. The driver then backed up swiftly towards Heavysides's fallen body. Multiple witnesses watched a couple in a sedan swerve off of Ospika and stop between Heavysides and the reversing vehicle. The witnesses said it seemed like a deliberate and successful attempt by the sedan driver to save Heavysides from another serious collision.
ICBC won't say if they are covering the damage to the car that intervened in the hit-and-run of Heavysides.
"We absolutely cannot comment on the specifics of this claim, which is still very much being reviewed," said ICBC spokeswoman Alyson Gourley-Cramer.
Understandably, there is a certain amount of investigation to be done, witnesses to be found and questioned and then decisions to be made.
However, if everything is as it appears, and the driver of the sedan did indeed purposefully drive his vehicle between Heavysides and the reversing SUV, the only decent thing for ICBC to do is to fix the driver's vehicle at no cost to him.
Think about it. If this was your loved one, or a friend, wouldn't you hope there was someone around with the cojones to do what the driver of the sedan appears to have done.
Wouldn't you hope that someone would take immediate action like this person did, instead of driving by, or even stopping and watching as the SUV reversed over the fallen body of your family member.
It would appear that if you purposefully damage your vehicle, your insurance with ICBC becomes null and void. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and this would appear to be one of those exceptions.
I don't think there is a taxpayer in the province that would bemoan ICBC sucking up the cost of the damage to the sedan. ICBC is a public body and therefore owned by the taxpayers of this province, and not only would covering the cost of the damage to the sedan be the right thing to do, with the amount of profits ICBC makes each year, it would be a small price to pay for a great piece of public relations.
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