RCMP sued over fatal crash
Survivor's 4-year-old son was killed in the head-on collision
Paul Walton, The Daily News
Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009
The woman who survived a horrific head-on crash on Nanaimo's Jingle Pot Road five ago years this month -- as police chased a man who had kidnapped his daughter -- now has a civil trial set for next year.
Michelle Claire Thornett's four-year-old son Seth was killed in the crash that also killed William Jeffrey Bethell, who was driving the speeding truck.
Thornett's lawsuit names Bethell, his wife Sara Bethell, the company that leased the vehicle to Sara Bethell, two RCMP officers, an RCMP dispatcher, the province and the government of Canada. A three-week trial begins in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo in May. Thornett is represented by Walter Koteckyj, who represented for the mother of Robert Dziekanski, Zofia Cisowski, at the Braidwood Commission. In a statement of claim, Thornett argues that police knew Bethell was restricted by a court order to stay away from his estranged wife on Nov. 8, 2004, when he broke into her home, assaulted and confined her and then went to kidnap their two children. But Sara Bethell struggled free and called 911. Police arrived at the Nanaimo Christian School just as Bethell was leaving.
Police, states the court filing, "knew or ought to have known that Bethell was volatile and posed a significant threat to himself and other members of the public." The filing also alleged Sara Bethell told the police dispatcher William Bethell would run other vehicles off the road if chased.
Court documents indicate that the police dispatcher, one of the officers and Sara Bethell are now dropped from the case. It is alleged that the remaining officer still named in the suit initiated a high-speed pursuit without getting information from the dispatcher that William Bethell said he would run other vehicles off the road. Police, the filing states, also failed to follow RCMP protocol for high-speed chases.
In statements of defence, police deny all claims that they contributed to the injuries of Thornett and the death of her son. None of the claims of either side have been proved in court.
PWalton@nanaimodailynews.com
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