A young Nanaimo family with a baby on board were transported to hospital after a hit-and-run on the Trans-Canada Highway near Chemainus on Thursday night.
Cameron and Bibi Wallace and their baby Axel were heading back from Victoria and were stopped in a northbound lane of the intersection of Mt. Sicker Road waiting to turn left when the collision occurred at around 9 p.m.
“We wanted to go use the restroom and feed our baby so we got into the turning lane to go to the Chevron (which we then realized was closed but we could still stop and feed baby),” Bibi told the Chronicle.
According to the family, it was while they were sitting there waiting for a break in traffic, Bibi in the backseat of the 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer with the baby, that a red Chevy truck allegedly rear-ended them.
“I did see him crash into us…I was sitting in the backseat with Axel and I was turned, looking and talking to him,” Bibi said. “I looked back and saw the truck coming up behind us and then hit us.”
The Caucasian man proceeded to get out of his vehicle and walked over to the Wallace’s car where he saw Bibi and Axel in “distress in the backseat and then took off.”
Bibi said the driver took off and did a U-turn in the intersection and fled south back towards Duncan.
“It is hard to remember more about him after the trauma and concern over our baby but he was scruffy looking and most likely in his thirties but it was hard to tell for certain,” she said. “There were several witnesses but I don’t know if any of them saw the driver when he got out of his truck.”
Several people who witnesses the crash stayed with the Wallace family until emergency services arrived while a few others even tried following the truck.
“This meant a lot to us. We can’t thank these wonderful people enough,” Wallace said in a Facebook post
The vehicle was towed from the scene and the Wallaces were transported to hospital and are still shaken up but OK other than a few sore muscles.
Anyone with information is asked to call the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP at 250-748-5522 or to get in touch with Crime Stoppers (cowichancrimestoppers.com) by texting 274637 and writing COWICHAN followed by the tip, or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
