BURNABY –
Friends and families of two teenagers killed in a crash have been left speechless after learning the driver and passenger who caused the crash are walking freely in the community.
The fatal collision took place on the night of July 26.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police said officers attempted to pull over a white sedan a few blocks from the crash scene. They did not say what prompted them to attempt the traffic stop.
A witness told CTV News they saw the white sedan drive through the intersection of 10th Avenue and 6th Street in Burnaby, just minutes before the crash.
Yasbirat Itatek, 17, and Samir Ali, 18, later died in hospital from their injuries.
Moges Seblehiwot, president of Ethiopian Affairs and a family friend of the Ytateks, said the parents of both teenagers were in agony.
“They are in deep pain. So I don’t know how they will heal from such a terrible situation,” he said.
The grief only intensified when we learned that the driver and passenger in the fleeing vehicle had been released from police custody on several conditions, including a curfew and a promise to appear in court in November.
Police have recommended charges of prohibited driving, dangerous driving causing death and fleeing police, but those have not been approved by the Crown attorney — and Seblehiwot and others say they don’t understand why that hasn’t happened yet.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Seblehiwot said. “We demand justice as soon as possible. And these people, these families are now suffering: they cannot work, they are losing their homes, they are losing their lives.
CTV News asked the British Columbia Prosecutor’s Office and MVTP why charges will not be laid under oath until a later date and will update the story once answers are received.
Kash Heed, a former police chief and former public safety minister and attorney general, said he was also confused as to why the suspects were released without charge.
“Now it’s looking at the credibility of the police and the prosecutor’s office when you let people you don’t even accuse them in the first place of killing two people. I find that absolutely absurd with the laws here in British Columbia and in Canada,” he said.
The British Columbia Independent Investigation Service is also involved, investigating whether there was a police pursuit and whether that was a factor in the collision.
Heid said based on preliminary information about this incident, there was no need for a police pursuit.
“The information that’s coming out that it’s a failure to stop is just a motor vehicle offense, it’s not a criminal code offense,” he told CTV News. “There is no justification or reasonableness as to why officers would initiate the pursuit.”
He said the IIO’s investigation will be critical in determining whether the officers involved followed procedures.
“The laws in Canada are adequate. We don’t need to reinvent them. We need to make sure that police officers who protect the public follow these procedures under these laws. And if they are not, the punishment should be to the extent that it will deter other police officers from flouting the policy,” he said.
A candlelight vigil at the crash site is scheduled for Monday evening at 7 p.m.
GoFundMe campaigns have been started to support Ytatek’s family and Ali’s family.
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