Indigenous woman seriously hurt in hit-and-run says she was targeted

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A young mother is angry and feels traumatized, saying she was “intentionally” run over by a van in a hit-and-run incident early Saturday.

Margaret (Macey) Cobiness was walking on Mulvey Avenue East, south of Mulvey Market, when she was struck at about 12:30 a.m. She was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

“I’m really traumatized and in disbelief because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Cobiness told the Free Press on Sunday. “I made sure I was OK to go. I was safe. I wasn’t drunk — I wasn’t anything. I was aware of everything.”

The 25-year-old mother of two said she was walking to a bar in Osborne Village to play pool when the incident occurred. She said she made eye contact with the driver of the van before stepping off the curb, which indicated to her that she was safe to cross the street.

She said when she stepped in front of the van, the driver drove into her, knocked her over and drove over her. As she recalled, he then backed over her and drove forward over her again.

“He was intentionally driving slow, and you could tell he knew I was underneath the vehicle,” Cobiness said.

Her injuries include a broken collarbone, a broken hip, a fractured pelvis and broken ribs. She underwent surgery Saturday evening to repair the collarbone.

The hit-and-run collision comes about a month after one of Cobiness’ friends was fatally run over in a similar incident, she said.

Cobiness, who is originally from Buffalo Point First Nation, a community beside the Manitoba-U.S. border about 170 km southeast of Winnipeg, said she believes she was targeted because she is Indigenous.

She believes the driver and an accomplice intended to return to the scene to kidnap her.

“I could feel the hate and ignorance displayed by those males, and all I could do was cry out for help,” she said.

“I could feel the hate and ignorance displayed by those males, and all I could do was cry out for help.”– Margaret Cobiness

Winnipeg Police Service officers were sent to the scene early Saturday.

“Information provided at the time stated that a white van had struck a pedestrian and left the scene prior to police arrival,” WPS spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy said Sunday.

There is no indication the incident was an attempted abduction, he added.

The Southern Chiefs’ Organization and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs both posted about the incident on social media over the weekend.

“The Southern Chiefs’ Organization condemns acts of violence against our citizens,” SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said in a statement posted on Facebook. “I extend my prayers for healing and justice to this young woman, her children and those who love her.”

The AMC urged the public to remain vigilant and encouraged anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

“Enough is enough,” the organization posted on Facebook. “Our women deserve to be safe.”

The SCO reiterated the need for “urgent action” on the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people, while the AMC demanded “real steps” to address the issue.

More than a dozen people gathered outside Health Sciences Centre late Saturday afternoon, drumming and chanting to demand justice for Cobiness.

Speaking to journalists, Macey’s older sister Kari Cobiness wondered if her sibling could have ended up in a Manitoba landfill, like some or all of serial killer Jeremy Skibicki’s four victims.

“There’s men… that are going after our people, our women, and that’s just the reality,” Kari Cobiness said.

Macey’s mother, also named Margaret Cobiness, told the Free Press on Sunday she’s thankful for the community’s support.

“As a family, we’re all shaken up — we’re broken,” she said. “I hope justice comes out of this and they find the guys that did this to my baby. No one should ever go through this. Nobody.”

The WPS investigation is ongoing.

— with files from Katie May

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca