Chris and Karri Brinnen have launched a letter-writing campaign hoping to get justice for their son and two of his friends, after learning criminal charges will not be laid in the multi-vehicle crash that killed one of the young men and left the others with life-altering injuries last year.
“We want justice, ” Karri Brinnen said. “We want justice for these boys.”
The three young men, all members of Thompson Rivers University’s men’s volleyball team, were involved in a serious collision on Nov. 23, 2023 in Kamloops.
One the men, Owyn McInnis, was killed. The two others, Riley Brinnen and Owen Waterhouse, sustained life-altering injuries.
Last week, the families of all three were informed the man at the wheel of the truck that slammed into the Jetta Volkswagen that was carrying McInnis, Brinnen and Waterhouse will not be charged criminally and instead be ticketed for driving without due care and attention under B.C.’s Motor Vehicle Act.
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“Absolutely horrifying,” said Karri Brinnen.
Riley Brinnen was 21 years old at the time of the crash. He suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury, leaving him fully paralyzed in his left leg and partially paralyzed in his right.
He spent months at Vancouver General Hospital followed by several more months at the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre.
“He will never get to the point he was prior to the accident,’ said Riley’s dad Chris Brinnen. “This is a kid that’s been handed a horrible deck of cards.”
Police had said the truck driver, 29-year-old Colval Abbinett, was driving erratically prior to the fatal crash, taking out trees and driving on the sidewalk.
“We know from a source close to the investigation that criminal code charges were recommended to the crown,” said Karri Brinnen.
Global News reached out to the B.C. Prosecution Service but did not hear back by publication time.
Chris Brinnen — a former police officer himself — has investigated fatal crashes over the course of his career and can’t wrap his head around why criminal charges were not laid in this case.
“I really struggle with what I saw, what I heard that doesn’t fall into the realm of likelihood of prosecution under the criminal code,” he said.
The Brinnens, along with families of the other victims, have started a letter writing campaign to politicians calling on the case to be reviewed.
“The one agency that you trust to protect the people of B.C. and our boys in that incident have let us down,” said Chris Brinnen, referring to B.C. Prosecution.
But they vow not to back down for the three young men and for the public at large.
“It’s in the public interest, huge public interest,” Chris Brinnen said.
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