April 7, 1999
Tragic findMom tried to get insulin to her son before fatal crash
Police said the mom, knowing her son was at the wheel of a truck and suffering insulin-withdrawal, was desperately trying to find him before he blacked out. The 25-year-old man died at the intersection of 52 St. and Temple Dr. N.E., after police said he lost control of his truck at about 4:15 p.m., and left a trail of wreckage, colliding with cars, and rolling several times before coming to rest. The tragedy began earlier in the day when the man telephoned his mother saying he was going into insulin withdrawal while he was driving his truck, said Sgt. Wayne McCormick. "The mother notified police and officers were keeping a lookout for the vehicle," said McCormick. When the mother learned her son was driving in the northeast Temple area, she began driving around trying to locate him before he blacked out. "Unfortunately, the mother came across this accident scene, and discovered her son had passed away," said McCormick. Police crisis counsellors were called in to assist the mother through the trauma. Brian Griffiths, 16, was parked at the intersection lights when he watched the truck coming toward him. "He was speeding like mad and then started swerving to miss the cars in front of him," he said. "He smoked a green car, then went off through the bushes, flattened a wooden fence and a red car behind it. "Then he went airborne, did a flip and barrel-rolled back into the road, and slid across the lanes, the median and the other lanes going the other way." Griffiths ran over to see if he could help the driver, but found he was too badly injured. After firefighters had cut the man from the wreckage of his truck, paramedics tried desperately to save his life, while STARS air ambulance circled overhead, ready to race him to hospital. But the paramedics' efforts were in vain, and the man died at the scene. Traffic investigators sealed off a section of 52 St. N.E. while they examined and measured the scene. Last night, police were withholding the dead man's identity. This was Calgary's sixth road fatality of the year. |
| From the victim's
parents to Peter Smith:
As a writer - you should know that counsellor is spelled: counselor. As a journalist - you should go to the scene - getting information second and third hand is simply not good enough for a professional - Question: Is the journalist unqualified or the Calgary Sun simply not worth reading. Providing accurate information - you might want to visit the website http://www.diabetes.ca/ to get some more insight of the problems - part of the facts you are publishing here are nonsense! As a human - Is there anything what you respect? Putting the heading "PHOTO OF THE DAY" over the report of a tragic accident shows a total lack of tact. And as we said before: We do not wish, that you will find the tragic death of your son or any loved ones in the news paper under the heading: THE PHOTO OF THE DAY However: If you would loose your job over this - that would be O.K. |