Tributes are pouring in for two teenagers who lost their lives when a vehicle fleeing police crashed into them.
Authorities have not officially released the names of the victims, but friends have identified one of the victims as 18-year-old Samir Ali.
Friends said Ali was driving his friend home from a soccer game Tuesday night when the fatal crash happened at 10th Avenue and 6th Street in Burnaby.
“The world deserves to know his story,” said Mania Namatifar, who knew Ali through his involvement in youth groups.
Ali had just won this year’s Vistara Elevate Award, earning him a full scholarship to travel to UBC to pursue computer science in the fall.
He is a refugee from Kenya and arrived in Canada five years ago.
Namatifar said Ali lives in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighborhood and volunteers to help people in the Downtown Eastside.
“He was a very strongly religious boy who believed in the unity of humanity. He served his community in the downtown Eastside, no matter who was in the community,” she said.
Ali was the eldest of eight siblings and Namatifar said his mother was in agony.
“They didn’t just lose a son; he was their support system, he was their everything,” she said.
A GoFundMe campaign has now been launched to help the family.
IIO IS INVESTIGATING A POSSIBLE POLICE PURSUIT
Before the crash, Metro Vancouver transit police attempted to pull over a white sedan. They did not specify where or why they initiated the traffic stop.
They said the crash happened a few blocks later.
A witness says he saw the white sedan speeding and not paying attention to the traffic lights.
“In an instant, a white car whizzed past me,” said Samuel Webb. “I’d say he was going 150km/h and I didn’t see him hit the brakes or anything, he just went straight through the light.”
He said Ali and his friend were just walking through the intersection at the time.
He got out of his vehicle and tried to save the two teenagers.
“It was a terrible, terrifying thing. I just wish I could have done more to get them out of there and to get better right now because they’re gone too soon,” he said.
British Columbia’s Independent Investigations Office, the province’s police watchdog, is now investigating whether a possible police pursuit led to the fatal crash.
When Webb was on the scene, he noticed police officers arriving quickly.
“I would say it was 30 seconds from the crash and from the time I was at the driver’s side door. And at that point there was a police car in the middle of the street, so I would assume they were nearby when it happened,” he said.
Anyone with dash cam video of the crash is asked to contact MVTP.
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