Jayda Koppel said she’s in 10 times more pain than she was Wednesday afternoon after she and a friend were allegedly assaulted without reason by an unknown driver.
Jayda, 19, and her friend, who wished not to be named, were attempting to rest Thursday after the two sustained concussions and other injuries in an altercation that occurred in the Silver Creek area around 2:45 p.m. on March 8. On that day, Jayda said she and her friend were driving toward Silver Creek to check the mail. As they were driving, Jayda said a blue sedan came up fast behind them. Attempting to slow down for an upcoming corner, Jayda said “she almost hit me, she was tailgating me so bad.”
“After we turned the corner, she tried to pass us, but she wasn’t actually trying to pass, she was kind of just staying beside the car, so I started to slow down so she could pass, and then she cuts us off, almost clips the front of my car…,” said Jayda.
Soon after both vehicles came to a stop when the other driver unexpectedly hit the brakes.
“We were going the speed limit and she slammed on her brakes so hard that I had to pull off to the side of the road to not hit her,” said Jayda.
The other driver pulled over, got out of their vehicle and approached Jayda’s vehicle.
“I stood half in my car, half out, and said, ‘What’s up? Where’s the problem?’ and then she starts screaming,” said Jayda. “So I close the car door. And then she starts screaming at me some more.”
Jayda said her friend got out of the car and came around to where the driver was. Then Jayda was out of the car and the two of them began urging the driver to calm down.
“And then she looked at us, and she tossed me into the car, right into the side of the car, and started swinging at us,” said Jayda, noting she and her friend are both much smaller than their alleged assailant.
“I have a blown out blood vessel in my eye, I’m getting a black eye. I have a concussion,” said Jayda. “This lady must have been wearing rings because my friend has scratches on her face, she had a bloody nose, her cartilage was all pushed over in her nose and she got a concussion. She was a big woman, she could pack a punch.”
“She got us good, she hit us so many times. She was a beast,” said Jayda’s friend.
Jayda said she and her friend tried to defend themselves and at one point the woman backed away a bit, giving Jayda enough time to reach into her car to grab her cell phone.
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“When I started lifting my phone, ‘I said I have your licence plate, I have you,’” said Jayda. “And she said, ‘Go ahead and take a video, I don’t care.’ And then she went into her car and sped off.”
In a state of shock, Jayda said she and her friend got back into the car and drove until they had good cell phone reception. Jayda then called her mother and when she arrived, they called the police.
Jayda and her friend were transported to hospital, where they were treated for their injuries.
Jayda said Thursday that she and her friend would be visiting the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment to provide a recorded statement.
“We’re actually in 10 times more pain today,” said Jayda. “She might have swung on my ribs because I can barely move on the one side. It was all such a fast blur of us telling her to calm down and then her shoving me into the car and then immediately started swinging.”
Family and friends of the two girls have shared Jayda’s photos of the unknown driver on social media, looking for any information that could be shared with the RCMP to assist in their investigation.
The Observer contacted the Salmon Arm RCMP and will provide an update when more information becomes available.
Reflecting on the incident, Jayda and her friend said if they should ever find themselves in a similar situation, they would remain in the car.
“I would let her beat up the car instead of me,” said Jayda.
lachlan@saobserver.net
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