In what RCMP called a horrific incident, a five-year-old girl was killed and three others sent to hospital after being involved in a crash with a stolen pickup truck in eastern Alberta.
It happened near Cold Lake, about 300 km northeast of Edmonton, on Highway 897 at the Beaver River Bridge.
Mounties responded just after 10 p.m. Tuesday to the scene and arrived to find the five-year-old girl was already dead.
RCMP Supt. Anthony Hanson said the girl was in a minivan with her 27-year-old mother, a 30-year-old man and a 10-month-old boy — all three of which also required EMS treatment.
STAR air ambulance responded to the crash and airlifted the critically injured 30-year-old man to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. The mom and baby were taken to hospital with other unspecified injuries.
Mounties would not provide other details on how the four people were related, but said they were travelling in a family vehicle.
Police determined the other vehicle involved, a Ford F350, was stolen three days earlier in Lashburn, Sask., about 200 km southeast of where the crash occurred.
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After the fatal crash, RCMP said the suspect involved stole the vehicle of a good Samaritan who stopped to offer help.
Police ramped up their search and the RCMP Real Times Operation Centre began deploying what it said was a significant number of resources to both investigate the fatal collision, as well as locate the suspects.
Members from the Alberta Traffic Service, the Criminal Collision Investigative Team and a collision analyst were sent to the collision.
To track down the suspects, RCMP called in officers from Cold Lake, Bonnyville and Elk Point detachments, along with police dog services and Mounties from the Eastern Alberta District (EAD) Crime Reduction Unit.
About an hour after the initial crash, police found the good Samaritans’ stolen vehicle abandoned.
RCMP said officers then began patrolling, including targeted checks on the homes of known prolific offenders.
About two hours into that operation, RCMP said a stolen vehicle with a shotgun in plain view was found parked in front of one such home.
Police said they determined at least one offender in that residence was linked to the original collision scene.
Ryan Mitchell Greer, 34, of Bonnyville, has been charged with 11 offences:
• Failing to stop at an accident scene causing death
• Two counts of failing to stop at an accident scene causing bodily harm
• Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000
• Theft of a motor vehicle
• Failure to comply with a probation order
• Unauthorized possession of a firearm
• Four counts of possession of a firearm contrary to order
At the time of the collision, Greer was out on bail for breaching a probation order.
The accused is now back behind bars.
“This case is yet another example of the harm that (alleged) offenders like this do to our community,” said Eastern Alberta District RCMP Supt. Tony Hanson.
RCMP said additional stolen items were found during a search of the home and there is now a parallel investigation with charges laid on occupants of that property not associated to the collision.
—with files from The Canadian Press
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