Neighbour describes victim of fatal collision as ‘a good kid’

Edmonton – An 18-year-old has died after a collision in north Edmonton Wednesday night.

Witnesses say the victim’s Volkswagen Passat was turning left onto 167 Avenue from Manning Drive and a Dodge Avenger was travelling south on Manning Drive when the two vehicles collided.

“The collision was catastrophic, the impact caused the Volkswagon Passat to rip in half and the Dodge Avenger caught on fire,” says Sergeant Margaret Raposo, Edmonton Police Service Major Collision Investigation Section. “It was quite bad. One of the worst I’ve seen.”

“(I saw) the back axle with the seats just sitting in the middle (of the road), and probably 50 feet away, the front end of the car with the two back doors still attached. It was a really weird scene,” added Sheri McConnell, who lives in the neighbourhood and came out of her house when she heard what she described as a huge crash.

Witnesses say the driver of the Dodge got out of the vehicle and walked toward residential houses, where he allegedly jumped a fence and ran from the scene. Witnesses caught up to him and held him until police arrived.

“He jumped the fence right behind- which is the neighbour to us- jumped across our fence and then bolted down the cul-de-sac here, and the neighbours actually chased him and tackled him down about a block away from the original accident,” McConnell explained.

“We’re very thankful for that. It’s nice to see that witnesses are able to help out in situations like this, even though what they observed was quite traumatic themselves. So for them to step up was quite astonishing,” Raposo added.

The man was later treated and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The 18-year-old was rushed to hospital by an ambulance. About an hour after the crash, the teen was pronounced dead in hospital.

Police have not released the young man’s name. However, neighbours have identified the victim as Travis Hurlbert.

“He was 18 and he was a good kid. A lot of people loved him,” said Matt Duchak.

Duchak says Hurlbert grew up in B.C. and recently moved to Alberta, after graduating from high school.

“He wanted to be able to make some money, live the dream of the oil patch in a sense,” Duchak said Thursday evening, shortly after placing flowers at the site of the collision.

“A lot of people cared about him and to see that he doesn’t have that opportunity to live out the rest of his life… that’s not fair.”

Derrick O’Connor, 27, has been charged with criminal hit and run causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

Additional charges are pending.