Aggressive driver leaves several hurt at BC march for residential schools

A weekend March for Recognition for Residential Schools was soured by a confrontational driver.

According to a release, Mission RCMP said they were called to the area of the former St Mary’s Residential School at around 12:30 pm on Saturday, June 4.

“It sounds like this driver became upset that his trip was going to be delayed by a few minutes, and drove into oncoming traffic to try to get around the group,” Cst. Harrison Mohr.

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“When faced with oncoming traffic, he drove his vehicle into the midst of the group until the cars went by, then pulled out and passed again.”

“In doing so, he struck several members of the March. Fortunately, none were seriously injured, and the March was able to continue as planned.”

The march was going to the former site of the school from Heritage Park, temporarily delaying eastbound traffic along a short stretch of Lougheed Highway. They had a traffic control person halt traffic because there is just one eastbound lane and no place to pass.

“Despite the safety risk, one driver pushed his way up through the group, making contact with approximately four persons in the group, including the traffic control person and one of the organizers of the March,” said RCMP.

Robert Jago shared photos and videos of the incident, writing that a truck “drove through the crowd.”

Attending a march on St Mary’s residential school in Mission, BC. Truck drove through the crowd. Badly injured someone. The old man in the Chevy did it. Appeared to aim at him on the median pic.twitter.com/FUixQVgw1m

— Robert Jago (@rjjago) June 4, 2022

Jago, a journalist who was on site for a story, disputed the RCMP’s claims, writing that four were injured and “the hit wasn’t when the lane was blocked, it was when people were being let through.”

Here’s Facebook Live video of the incident in Mission – which shows the lie in the RCMP’s statement. Because the hit wasn’t when the lane was blocked, it was when people were being let through, and as we were marching on to reserve land at the residential school. pic.twitter.com/ySsyNsg28l

— Robert Jago (@rjjago) June 5, 2022

Video footage shows the truck pushing past, and then stopping as the driver hung their head out of the window to look back.

Jago told Dailly Hive that he was at the event to interview residential school survivors for an article he was writing for Canadaland.

“I was filming an altercation with another driver – who was angry that they were stopped as we entered the driveway to our reserve (at the site of the rebuilt St Mary’s residential school).”

“The collision happened immediately behind me. My tweets are based on my conversations with more than a dozen witnesses.”

Two people sustained minor injuries, going to the hospital later for treatment, according to police.

“We’re going to be gathering as much evidence as possible to determine the appropriate charges to recommend,” said Mohr. RCMP said that there’s no indication that the incident was “targeted” or that their actions were linked to the march’s cause.

“Trying to save a few minutes of time by endangering the lives of others is simply unacceptable,” said Mohr.

Police say that no one is in custody, but that they have identified the license plate of the vehicle, and anyone with information or footage of the incident is asked to come forward.