A hit and run driver slammed into the back of a van carrying Special Olympics athletes in Langley for a competition last Friday, June 10.
The crash happened at about 7:30 p.m. on Fraser Highway near 203rd Street, according to the Langley RCMP.
Track team coach Rick Prosk said there were two coaches and eight athletes from Quesnel in two vehicles stopped at a red light on Fraser.
The rear vehicle, a mini-van borrowed from an athlete’s parent, was rear-ended, Prosk said.
The van was then pushed forward into the pickup truck in the lead.
The van suffered the brunt of the damage.
The offending vehicle didn’t stay there. The driver took off and headed down Fraser Highway and then a side street, causing a third Quesnel team vehicle to swerve out of the way, Prosk said.
Fortunately, none of the athletes or coaches were seriously hurt.
“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Prosk said.
Everyone in both vehicles headed to the hospital to be checked out by doctors out of caution, said the coach.
They were in the ER for about five hours on a busy Friday night before heading off to get a few hours of sleep.
All of the athletes competed the next day.
“We’ve found that the group we work with are pretty resilient,” said Prosk.
They had been training for two and a half months for this meet and didn’t want to miss it.
They put in several good performances, with one athlete finishing top three in three events, said Prosk.
The volunteered van remained drivable but suffered some damage, Prosk said.
It also now has a partial imprint of the hit and run driver’s license plate in the mini-van’s rear bumper.
Police were called, but haven’t located the vehicle.
One of the athletes is still a little sore from the crash and is seeing a doctor in Quesnel about back pain, Prosk said.
