Man arrested for 2017 hit and run of motorcycle rider in Maple Ridge

Ridge Meadows RCMP have made an arrest in connection with a fatal hit and run in Maple Ridge last September.

Laura Jeglum-Woycheshen, 48, was struck by a grey Pontiac Sunfire while she was riding her motorcycle on the Lougheed Highway on the night of Sept. 14.

She was riding in a group of motorcyclists that were heading westbound on the highway when an eastbound vehicle passed a slower vehicle and struck the lead motorcycle head-on close to 280th Street.

A second motorcycle then collided with the first and the suspect vehicle.

That vehicle then took off and fled the scene. It was later recovered.

Jeglum-Woycheshen was unconscious and not breathing when first responders arrived. She was a mother of three children and a grandmother of a two-year-old.

A second motorcyclist was also injured in the incident.

Ryan Lowe, 33, has now been charged with dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, impaired driving causing bodily harm, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and public mischief.

The Chilliwack resident was arrested on Feb. 2.

In addition, 31-year-old Abbotsford resident, Robert Lowe, was also arrested for one count of obstructing a peace officer. He has been released on a promise to appear.

“These last five months have been the hardest time in my life,” Jeglum-Woycheshen’s son said at the press conference Tuesday.

“The arrest is only the beginning.”