A Campbell River man who killed two members of an American family and injured three others in a crash on the Island Highway in September 2019 has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Kyle Rodney O’Callaghan, 33, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of Charlotte Van Valkenburg of Bend, Oregon, and her cousin Curtis Bartley.
He also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm to Van Valkenburg’s father, Ivan Smith, and to his own sisters, Breanne and Kelsey Reid.
“I accept that by entering this guilty plea you are acknowledging responsibility for the catastrophic damage that you have done. I can tell from looking at you right now that you are remorseful,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird said Tuesday at O’Callaghan’s sentencing hearing.
“What happened here is utterly appalling, all the more so because it was totally avoidable. It should not have happened.”
O’Callaghan is prohibited from driving for five years after his sentence is served.
Court heard that O’Callaghan had been drinking during the day on Sept. 15, 2019. Around 6 p.m., he was driving his Ford F150 south on the Island Highway, north of Campbell River.
Witnesses told police that O’Callaghan was speeding and driving erratically. The weather was rainy and overcast. The road was wet and other drivers were driving below the speed limit.
At the same time, a family of Americans were driving in three cars north on the Island Highway on their way to Port Hardy to catch the ferry to Bella Coola.
O’Callaghan approached a curve in the highway at a high speed, lost control and crossed the centre line. The rear end of his truck swung out and hit the second vehicle in the family convoy.
Bartley and Van Valkenburg died at the scene. Smith received significant injuries, including fractured ribs. O’Callaghan’s sisters, who were passengers in his truck, were badly injured. O’Callaghan received a serious head injury.
A collision expert determined that O’Callaghan was travelling between 105 and 118 kilometres per hour on the corner, which has a recommended speed of 60 km/h. The speed limit on that stretch of highway is 80 km/h.
In his victim impact statement, Charlotte’s husband, Dale Van Valkenburg, wrote that when he entered the corner he was a married man who had just celebrated his 32nd wedding anniversary. Within minutes of the collision, his wife was gone.
“Having my other half ripped suddenly away left me broken and questioning my very identity as an individual. I was present physically, but felt like I was an actor in a play I didn’t know, an imposter, faking my way along while the story went on without me,” wrote Van Valkenburg, who met Charlotte when they were in high school.
Van Valkenburg, who was in the first car with their adult children, described the flashback he has of Charlotte’s violent death.
“It always starts with the pickup coming around the corner towards me moving very fast and out of control. Then it flashes to the moment of impact in my rearview mirror, the seeming explosion as the two vehicles collide. Then the aftermath, hearing Charlotte’s final words: ‘It hurts. I can’t breathe,’ repeated until she lost consciousness,” he wrote.
The loss has been emotionally devastating and he has found himself profoundly alone, wrote Van Valkenburg, who called Charlotte, 51, the centre of the family. She was an architect and coach of a high-school robotics team.
“The one person who I needed to talk to the most was gone. It was a long and difficult journey to pick up the pieces of my shattered life,” he wrote.
Brian Bartley, who had stopped to refuel, arrived on the scene a few minutes after the fatal collision. He told the court that his older brother Curtis, who was in his mid-50s, had a lasting influence on his life and was not simply his brother.
“He was also my best friend, my mentor and my guardian … I feel his loss every day like a part of me is missing.”
In high school, Curtis was bookish and liked computers, Bartley said. “He was cool. He had a ponytail and listened to hard rock.”
Curtis Bartley gave his younger brother his books, exposing him to new ideas and new worlds. Curtis, who was a software developer, also taught his younger brother computer programming. When his company was acquired by Microsoft, Curtis moved to Seattle and Brian continued to live with him.
The judge noted that O’Callaghan had no criminal or driving record and that he was also injured.
“This was a disaster, a disaster for all concerned. I am satisfied it was an aberration for you and I know with certainty you are never going to do anything like it again,” he said.
He extended his sympathies to the family for their loss.
“I am equally deeply sorry that this calamity befell your family especially here on our beloved island. ... I am so sorry this happened to you while you were visiting us,” said Baird.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
