A Surrey man is facing 15 criminal charges related to a collision with an Uber on Highway 1 in Burnaby last year that killed two women.
The collision happened on Feb. 18, 2024, after the Uber driver pulled over and stopped on the side of the freeway near the Sprott Street exit to attend to one of the passengers.
The vehicle was then struck at high speed by a minivan, killing Jenna Hepperle, 20, and Mursal Arifi, 23, both from Maple Ridge. One victim was killed at the scene while the other died later in hospital.
Two other passengers, both Maple Ridge women in their 20s, were seriously hurt.
“The friends I lost that day are irreplaceable, and the amount of love shared between us was indescribable,” survivor Danaylia Douglas told Global News in a statement.
“It is downplaying it to say that they were the best people I had ever met, when they were truly so much more than that.”
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According to a GoFundMe for one of the victim’s families, the women had been returning home from a night of celebration when the tragedy struck.
On Friday, the BC Highway Patrol said Chi Sun Park, 35, had been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
At the time of the crash, police had said they did not believe impairment was a factor, however, on Friday, police announced a variety of drug-impaired driving charges.
According to the charges, Park allegedly had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the collision.
Park is due in Vancouver Provincial Court on July 24.
With files from Taya Fast
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