The driver of a truck who reportedly struck four people during a memorial march for residential schools in Mission, B.C. on Saturday has come forward to police.
The man, who was not identified in a Monday news release, is “cooperating” with the investigation and his truck has been seized for examination, said Mission RCMP.
The 77-year-old is not in custody.
“Thanks to the assistance of the news media and social media, this driver learned that police were looking for him, and he came forward and has been interviewed by police, which has helped to advance this investigation,” said Const. Harrison Mohr in the release.
Two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries after the incident at the second annual March for Recognition for Residential Schools, which took place around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Organized by the Crazy Indians Brotherhood, BC, it temporarily blocked the eastbound lane of the Lougheed Highway, as participants made their way from Heritage Park to the site of the former St. Mary’s Residential School.
Mounties initially said the truck driver was “impatient,” while Troy Ingraldi, who was doing traffic control for the march, said the man was “yelling and screaming.”
“This driver cut around a few cars, was honking, was trying to get around other cars, and he came up on us and he was driving really fast so I jumped out in front and was like, ‘Stop, stop, stop,’ and he stopped and he got out and he started yelling and screaming,” Ingraldi told Global News on Saturday.
Police said they had been called to the march by a bystander after it “appeared as though a fight was about to break out.” By the time they arrived, the driver had already allegedly struck the participants.
Ingraldi said the man got out of his truck and yelled at him, saying the group should get off the road and let traffic through. When he told the man to be patient, he said the driver became further enraged.
“He was like, ‘I’ll run everyone down on this highway if I want to,’ and like maybe 50 yards in front of me we had small children from the ages of two all the way up to 14.”
Ingraldi said when the man got back into his truck, he stepped in front of the vehicle to stop him. The man then drove through him, knocking him to the ground, he said.
“He started screaming and yelling more, and then he took off again, and children and women and some brotherhood guys had to jump out of the way,” he said.
Mission RCMP later responded to the scene and confirmed that the driver made “contact with approximately four persons.”
Police said Saturday there was no indication the driver’s actions were targeted or had anything to do with the cause the group was marching for.
“This has been a traumatizing event for the people involved in the march, as well as the wider community, and police are working hard to gather all of the evidence to help to bring some answers and some closure to everyone involved,” said Mohr on Monday.
“Like any criminal investigation, we need to let the evidence guide the investigation, and that’s why we’re continuing to ask for more witnesses to come forward.”
The RCMP is seeking additional witnesses. In particular, it’s searching for the driver of a single-unit dump or semi truck, possibly blue in colour, that was behind a blue Chevrolet Silveraldo as it passed the march.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the detachment at 604-826-7161.
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