Drugs or alcohol were not a factor in a tragic South Surrey car crash that killed five members of one family last month.
The BC Coroners Service confirmed Wednesday morning that Langley resident Daniel Mark Gore, whose van ran through a red light and smashed into a sedan carrying five members of a Surrey family April 28, showed no indication of impairment due to alcohol or drugs of any kind.
Gore, 46, died one week later, after undergoing surgery for a brain tumour discovered after the crash.
The coroner will now focus on whether the non-malignant tumour caused the crash.
“Obviously, one of the things at the top of the coroner’s mind is the possibility of whether a medical event led to the collision, and independently, to his death,” strategic-programs coroner Barb McLintock told Peace Arch News. “All those things are very much back in the mix now that we know impairment was not a factor.”
Three-year-old Jessica Sachdeva, five-year-old brother Annish, mother Pawandeep Arjot, 31, aunt Neelam Dhingra, 47, and grandmother Vidya Sachdeva, 68, were killed when Gore’s westbound van struck their vehicle at the intersection of 176 Street and 32 Avenue around 11 a.m.
Gore, who was en route to his job as a meat cutter at a South Surrey grocery store, was rushed to hospital where he was initially listed in serious but stable condition, before the tumor was discovered.
The next step for the coroner service will be to prepare the final report.
