Skip to content

Emergency crews respond to single vehicle crash in Williams Lake

City worker praised for quick first aid response
22115748_web1_200713-WLT-MVI-Mackenzie_2
Emergency crews responded to a single vehicle crash Monday, July 13 where a car went off the road and landed on the bank between two businesses on Mackenzie Avenue. (Monica Lamb-Yorski photo - Williams Lake Tribune)

A driver who experienced medical distress and crashed on Monday, July 13, in Williams Lake was transported to the hospital by ambulance with injuries.

Witness Colby Beck, who manages Dynamic All Brand Parts. Ltd., said at about 12:38 p.m. the car was travelling north on Mackenzie Avenue when it crossed the road.

As it went off the road it connected with Dynamic’s loading ramp, shot off the ramp and landed on the bank beside the building.

Beck said he ran outside and Kira Smith, a public works employee, was already in the parking lot with her first aid kit in hand. Smith had been cutting the cemetery lawn on the other side of Mackenzie Avenue when she saw the crash.

“I gloved her up and she began administering first aid immediately,” Beck said, noting there was probably a handful if not more bystanders helping and probably 10 people calling 9-1-1.

“It was very good,” he said of the quick response.

Read More: First Nation community ‘torn apart’ by unsolved homicide of Sabrina Rosette

Beck said Smith kept up with the first aid until paramedics with BC Emergency Health Services arrived.

“They padded her on the back and said, ‘thank you kiddo, we’ll take it from here. She worked at the pool as well so she had all her first aid training, so she was definitely the one we wanted around.”

Williams Lake RCMP, the Williams Lake Fire Dept. and Central Cariboo Search and Rescue also attended.

Beck said it all happened so fast.

One minute he was doing up an invoice for a customer and in a split second there was a ‘huge, huge, thunderous bang.’

“That cement border slowed the car down enough that it definitely helped him,” he said. “It was quite crazy.”



news@wltribune.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
Read more