No one hurt when a truck smashes into parked car
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 12/01) - Just as many of Weledeh school's 292 students were arriving for class Wednesday morning, a truck out of control plowed through the parking lot hitting a teacher's parked car.
No one was injured in the incident however impaired driving charges are pending against the 29-year-old woman behind the wheel.
"The driver was highly intoxicated and must have been travelling at a high rate of speed when she failed to make the corner and plowed through the snowbank hitting a car," said Const. Doug Norrad of the Municipal Enforcement Division, who was at the scene by 8:10 a.m.
"The driver and the passenger attempted to flee but only made it about half a block before being caught."
Witnesses say the parked car was pushed back about three metres on impact.
Weledeh starts classes at 8:30 a.m., but many students start arriving by 8 a.m., a school employee said.
"We are considering ourselves very fortunate and very lucky that all that happened was damage to vehicles and no people were injured," said Kern Von Hagen, the superintendent of Yellowknife Catholic Schools.
"The accident happened at a very busy time of the morning, many kids and teachers are arriving at that time -- it is the worst feeling in the world to think about what could have happened."
On the same property as Weledeh school is St. Patrick high school.
SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) co-president Jessie Normandin said they will use the morning incident to further illustrate their mandate.
"This was not an accident, it was a collision. When (drinking and driving) happens this early in the morning it is obviously a social problem and SADD strives to stop youth and adults from becoming this way," she said during her lunchbreak Wednesday afternoon.
"This could have easily been deadly. What the government needs to do is push the legislation that is sitting in front of them to increase penalties."
The Yellowknife SADD chapter is hosting a national Canadian Youth against Drunk Driving conference from March 22-25.
