Kelowna man falsely accused of crash, now facing lawsuit

KELOWNA — The last 10 years of Joe Webber’s life have been a nightmare.

In 2006 a driver involved in a serious crash north of Edmonton falsely identified himself. The driver at fault — the boyfriend of Webber’s ex-wife — told police that he was Joe Webber.

Eventually, police recommended charges of criminal negligence against Webber.

After a 10-year struggle, RCMP recently informed Webber he’s finally in the clear. He received a letter stating:

“Upon further investigation, it was verified that the individual involved had falsely provided your identification. That individual has since been charged for the collision. To remedy this matter, the charges against you have been withdrawn.”

But the RCMP said it did nothing wrong. It indicated in the letter that RCMP computers were down when the crash happened in 2006 and the member couldn’t verify the information he was given.

While the situation with RCMP has now been cleared, Webber’s problems are far from over.

“The person who was hit, he sued me and was awarded $220,000 under the assumption I was the gentleman who caused this whole mess,” said Webber.

Webber has been told that he must hire a lawyer to clear his name in the civil suit — something he can’t afford. He also said he’s had his driver’s licence revoked until the lawsuit is settled. And now that he doesn’t have a licence, he’s lost his job. He says the entire ordeal has taken its toll.

“In 2013 I had three heart attacks. I almost died. My health has deteriorated over all of this and nobody seems to care. Nobody seems to stand up and say: ‘OK, we made a mistake, we’re sorry that we made the mistake and here’s how we’re going to rectify it,’” he said.

Webber is hoping a lawyer comes forward to handle his case at no cost.