CHERRYVILLE — Days after learning a Salmon Arm RCMP officer involved in a fatal crash could face charges — a Cherryville family is still no closer to knowing what happened the night their loved one died.
Twenty-one year old Courtenay Eggen was coming home from a party in Salmon Arm around midnight June 21st when police say she ran through a stop sign. A police pursuit ensued, but the officer was told to stop. Eggen ended up crashing into a parked truck. The officer also ended up losing control of his cruiser damaging it before going down an embankment nearby. Eggen died on scene.
“It’s been day to day, part of life but we have to fight through it,” said Ian Eggen, Courtenay’s father.
Now BC’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) has submitted a review to Crown — which could lead to charges. Eggen says he’s relieved by the news.
“It reinforces your faith that the system is working to a point, we’ll have to see how far it goes from here and its taken a while, but I attribute that to diligence,” said Eggen.
Despite the developments, several questions still remain for the family. Why would Eggen — who had a clean driving record — seemingly panic and flee from police. Was she intoxicated? Did the officer actually stop chasing her when he was ordered to? If so, how did he still end up damaging his vehicle?
“I think that’s one of the big questions why the crash? He’s a professionally trained driver who’s been trained for those circumstances,” said Eggen. “To lose control of his car and spin 180, and then bang after a chase has been called off?”
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The investigation could hinge on a witness who was in the area at the time of the crash, it’s also believed there’s video.
We still don’t know the name of the officer yet — or how many year’s he’s been on the force.
Because this is still under investigation, a coroner’s report has not been released to the family or public — so there’s no way to know at this point whether Eggen was intoxicated.
It could be sometime before we find out whether Crown decides to pursue charges.
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