CHERRYVILLE, B.C. – They lost their daughter following a police pursuit, now just days after the mountie involved was acquitted of dangerous driving, the Okanagan couple is speaking out.
The parents say even though many questions remain about their daughter’s death, the end of the trial marks the beginning of their recovery.
“There is a hollowness, an emptiness that will always be there but we have to tough through it,” says Ian Eggen.
Twenty-one-year-old Courtenay Eggen died last June in a car crash in Salmon Arm.
She went through a stop sign, and failed to pull over when police sirens went off.
A high-speed chase then lead to her death when she crashed into a parked truck.
The police cruiser went into a ditch and officer Micah Chan was charged with dangerous driving.
Chan was acquitted of those charges last week. The Eggen’s say that marked the end of a painful chapter for them.
“Now that this trial is over with, we can finally get that last chapter closed and start to try and heal and recover,” says Helen Eggen.
However, the couple says there are still many questions, including why their daughter didn’t stop when Chan tried to pull her over.
“I talked to her that night and she was busy studying for a big exam they were having the next day. Then she said she was going over to a friend’s house because they were having a birthday party. She said she had to show up for a little bit at least. So, that’s all we know. Everything was good,” explains Helen.
The Eggen’s say they hope to see some changes including dash cams on all police vehicles and since it’s unclear whether the officer heard the order to stop the chase, they also want mandatory recording of communication between officers and the dispatch.
The crash that took Eggen’s life happened in Salmon Arm, where she was a trades student at Okanagan College.
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