Crown decides not to charge driver in crash that killed bride-to-be

A medical episode led to a September 2024 crash that killed a 40-year-old bride-to-be at a Winnipeg bus stop, according to the Crown, which decided not to authorize charges.

Nardia Bedward was hit by a Ford F-150 pickup truck — which also crashed into a glass bus shelter, a hydro pole, an SUV and a gas station bollard — at the southwest corner of Portage Avenue and Bedson Street in St. James.

“We can confirm the driver of the vehicle suffered a medical episode, therefore it was determined that no charges would be authorized,” a spokesperson for the Manitoba Prosecution Service said in a statement Friday.

Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said the request for a Crown opinion was submitted in April 2025; police received the decision in late January.

“The incident was submitted for Crown opinion. After review by the Crown, no charges were authorized,” police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy wrote in an email to the Free Press.

Police declined to comment on the investigation’s findings, including the cause of the collision or contributing factors.

Chancy said the request for a Crown opinion was submitted in April 2025; police received the decision in late January.

Bedward was just weeks away from getting married when she died, according to a GoFundMe page, which was set up to help cover the cost of repatriating her to her native Jamaica, where her fiancé lived.

“Nardia was a hard worker with many dreams and aspirations. She touched many lives with her kindness and will be deeply missed by family, friends and all who knew her,” the page said.

“She was also excitedly planning her wedding day in October (2024) and looking forward to starting her family when tragedy struck.”

The fundraiser said Bedward arrived in Canada just over a year before the collision. She attended the University of Winnipeg and had been hired by Frontier Supply Chain Solutions Inc. months before her death.

The crash happened at about 7:35 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2024.

Witness Melinda Whittaker said she was driving to work when the eastbound truck passed her while it was in the curb lane approaching Portage and Bedson. She estimated she was travelling 55-60 km/h in the 60-km/h zone.

The truck went over the curb, where police said it struck Bedward and the bus shelter. After hitting the pole and a stationary SUV on Bedson, the truck crashed into a bollard that protected fuel pumps at a Canadian Tire gas station on the southeast side of the intersection.

Whittaker said she immediately pulled over in the gas station lot and went to check on Bedward and a second woman, who was walking near Bedward when the collision happened.

Bedward died at the scene. The second woman, who appeared to be in shock, was sitting down and surrounded by broken glass, said Whittaker, who moved the woman out of the road.

She said she later noticed bystanders and emergency services tending to the truck’s driver while he was sitting upright on the back gate of the vehicle.

Police said three patients were taken to hospital in stable condition. Police did not provide any information about the driver.

Whittaker is traumatized by what she witnessed that day.

“It has affected me greatly. Sometimes I can’t get the visions out of my head and I have a hard time driving past (the scene) without having flashbacks,” she said Thursday.

“It makes you appreciate life and what we have in front of us, because it could all be taken away in a blink of an eye.”

Winnipeg police reported 12 fatal collisions — nine of which involved pedestrians — in 2025, down from 25 fatal collisions (16 involving pedestrians) the previous year.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca