A few days ago, a new report about an accident on Highway 148 came flooding across our social and mainstream media networks. Almost everyone in the Ottawa and Aylmer areas heard the report about a bear being hit by one car and rebounding into an SUV traveling in the opposite direction, killing 2 people.
With Aylmer being as tight-knit a community as any, more than a few people may have wondered if they knew any of the people involved. As usual, news reports about the event slowly trickled onto Facebook pages, a few Twitter posts had the incident, and newspapers/radio and TV did their best to report the accident.
Aylmer really is a small town - the relationships between people here are like a spider web, intermingled and complex! In the shadow of the horrible accident involving Anthony McColl on the same highway, yet another tragedy has shaken the roots of this town.
This link tells the story as well as any: 2 killed after bear hit by car crashes into SUV - Ottawa - CBC News
For me, this story started at 1:30 am, when my son Alex called home, crying tears of sorrow. I was sound asleep and startled to hear the phone ring. Christine answered the phone, and the look on her face told me something was horribly wrong. I heard her say 'Oh my God Alex', and then she broke down and started crying herself.
When I heard her say these words, I felt some sort of of relief, knowing Alex was alive at least. When she passed me the phone, she gave me the run down on what had happened, Alex filled in the rest of the details. He was at his girlfriends and felt he was too shaken up to drive home, so he was going to stay the night there.
Alex had been coming back from Luskville around 10:15 PM, with his friend Rick. The two were simply enjoying an afternoon off work and had decided to spend the day at Ricks family cottage. Suddenly, and without warning, they hit something in the road. The car jolted and air bags deployed and the car rolled to a stop a few yards later. Rick had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the black bear as it hit the front of the car.
When the air bags deflated, Alex and Rick saw black smoke coming from the hood and decided to get out of the car in case of fire. Rick told Alex they had hit a bear and to be careful in case it was still around or alive or in case it wasn't alone. Neither one of the two realized the magnitude of the event at the time.
After getting out of the car, Alex noticed an SUV about 100 yards down the road in the other direction and saw the bear lying in the road. I guess he put two and two together and realized the bear had rebounded from their vehicle into the path of the other one. As he started to run towards the other vehicle Rick stopped him for some reason. Alex protested - he wanted to make sure the other people were okay. But I gather Rick had realized how severe the damage to the SUV was and had stopped Alex from seeing this traumatic scene. It was at this point, or thereabouts - he heard Lee (the sole passenger in the other vehicle that survived) start screaming that his girlfriend was dead.
Shortly afterwards the authorities arrived on scene and took care of controlling the situation.
During the time between the accident and the time the authorities arrived, three cars passed by this scene and none of the three stopped to see if anyone was hurt. A fourth vehicle did stop to check and the poor girl witnessed the SUV carnage. But she held herself together (after screaming in horror at what she saw) and told Alex and Rick she would go to the nearest house/store and call 9-1-1. and that they shouldn't go to the SUV.
Since this incident occurred, Alex has been visibly shaken up. I have not seen or spoken to Rick, so I can't say how he's taking it all, but I would assume he is feeling the effects also.
The outpouring of concern for Alex (from my perspective) has been amazing. I've received calls from just about every relative and friend we have, but also from strangers and co-workers.
I've had messages from a friend in Japan, some from England/Ireland. A couple from friends in Houston, plus text messages, phone calls, emails from people all over the map. Our facebook pages and email accounts have been swarming with condolences, concerns and questions. More than a few have heard that Alex was one of the deceased - and he very nearly was!
My youngest son, Tyler has been fielding questions from school-mates and passing on messages for 3 days. Dustin, the same. Dustin - actually was having trouble sleeping on Tuesday night, and felt in necessary to log onto his facebook account at 5:15 AM. When he saw a post about this accident and his brother - the first thing he did was to call home to find what was going on!
Lee, - who has since returned home from the hospital sent Alex a message not to harbor any guilt inside - this was a class act from a class person!
Cody Leon- whose father, Steven Leon, also perished in this accident, drove over to our house today to tell Alex the same thing.
The thing is - the victims in this accident all knew each other. Alex and Cody have been friends since high-school, and used to hang out together. Lee is a close friend of my eldest son Sebastien.
Lee, Cody, if you guys are reading this, my hat is off to you guys - after your losses - contacting the other people involved - to help them alleviate their feelings of guilt or remorse, is simply above and beyond!!! My prayers and respect is yours - you've earned them both.
What everyone needs to know about this incident is that there was no drugs or alcohol abuse involved. Neither of the cars were traveling at excessive speeds, and neither of the drivers were texting or on a cell phone. This isn't something that needs some social issue made up to right some perceived wrong. It was an accident involving two cars that were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with terrible, heart-wrenching consequences.
My prayers are with the families!
Comments
Post a Comment