Liam Casey, Canadian Press Published Sunday, June 12, 2022, 2:36 PM EDT Last Updated on Sunday, June 12, 2022, 2:36 PM EDT
TORONTO – Amaresh Tesfamariam’s family will draw on her fighting spirit this week as they gather strength to talk about her life in front of the man who caused her death.
Tesfamariam was among 11 dead and 15 others injured after a man in a rental van drove off on busy Yonge Street in Toronto on April 23, 2018.
As of Monday, her family, along with other survivors and dozens of relatives of the victims, will file declarations of the victims’ impact in court as the case against convicted killer Alec Minasyan closes.
“I will fight just like her,” Tesfamariam’s niece, Luvam Ogbaselasi, said in an interview.
Tesfamariam, 65, suffered catastrophic injuries after being knocked down in the attack.
She was paralyzed from the neck down, she needed a ventilator to breathe, and her heart stopped several times. But she struggles to live for another three years, although she never leaves the hospital after the rampage.
She died in October, becoming the eleventh person killed in the attack.
Betty Forsythe, Ji Hong Kim, So He Chung, Geraldine Brady, Chul Min Kang, Anne Marie D’Amico, Munir Najar, Dorothy Sewell, Andrea Braden and Beutis Renuka Amarasinga were also killed in the attack.
Writing a statement about the victim’s impact forced Ogbaselassi to think once more about his aunt’s horrific pain and suffering.
But she also found strength in that reflection.
“The fact that she has been fighting for as long as she did has inspired so many of us that I think the memory of her will live on in all of us forever,” Ogbaselasi said. “I will fight just like her.
Hearing the sentence will allow the family to share the story of Tesfamariam’s life, not just her death, she said.
But the story was still difficult to write.
“It’s easier to switch off and not live and think about everything,” Ogbaselasi said. “She lived in such pain and misery, but she remained strong all the time – that’s what we will stick to.”
A similar force has grown in Katie Riedel, both physically and mentally.
The minibus attack left her with a fractured spine, broken ribs, shoulder blade and pelvis, massive internal injuries and brain injury. She has been rehabilitating since then.
The 71-year-old is heading for the week, feeling strong.
She has been lifting weights at the gym twice a week for years. She was supported after she “finished a cane” from her walker. And just a few weeks ago, she had an inspiring meeting with a stranger who helped her that rainy day.
This stranger, David Sword, was sitting in his car in Yonge Street traffic on the afternoon of the attack. At first he thought Minasian’s van was a car to escape the robbery.
He watched him crash into a woman, throwing her into a bus shelter where pieces of glass were falling. The sword drove through the traffic and rushed to help.
The woman sat frozen. He made her speak and understood her name – it was Riddle – but her answer to when she was born was nonsense.
Armed with first aid training, the Sword knelt behind her and held her still. There was no blood and she was breathing normally, so they waited together, motionless, for help.
Mine cop.
“There’s a van going on the sidewalk hitting people!” The sword shouted, so the officer took off.
A woman came out of the nearby parlor to help. The sword vividly remembers its long painted nails, but never got its name. She used these fingernails to remove pieces of glass from Riedel’s eyes, nostrils, and mouth and brought her a towel.
Thirty minutes later, firefighters arrived. Sword said Riddle was seriously injured – he could see the outline of the van’s bumper on her blue pants – but not seriously injured. Firefighters told him Riddle had to go to bed, so they took her off the glass and left her on the sidewalk. The sword placed a towel under her head on both sides.
Firefighters continued, he said, because others needed more help.
At that moment, Riddle began to moan in pain, out of shock. After 45 minutes, paramedics arrived and took her to an ambulance.
Riddle has no memories of the attack, something she is grateful for, but she believed for a year that she had been hit in a different place.
On the first anniversary of the attack, the Sword briefly saw her at a commemorative event. He visited the scene, hoping it would help him recover from the traumatic memories of the day, and collided with Riedel.
He told her where he had found her and what he had been doing that day.
“It was very disappointing because I was told I was hit somewhere else,” Riedel said.
Heavy rain ended their conversation prematurely and Riddle never received his contact information. He felt bad for not thanking him properly.
“I’ve always wondered when I go for a walk, will I ever run into him again?” She said.
She did it a few weeks ago.
Sword saw her come out of the gym with a beaming smile as she entered, so he stopped her. Riddle took a minute to put it on, then her smile returned.
“I finally had the opportunity to thank him, a stranger who helped me that day,” Riedel said.
The meeting also helped Sword.
“She gave me a huge amount of closure because of her joie de vivre,” he said. “It feels great to know that she’s just doing so well, given everything she’s had to deal with.
Riddle said he looks forward to making a statement about his victim’s impact in court this week, although he knows it will be difficult.
She began writing it years ago while in hospital, noting that she wrote it for herself and other victims.
“This is my only chance to stand up in court and say ‘this is how I feel,'” she said. “This is an important moment for all of us.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 12, 2022.
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