‘They were together all of the time, and they died together’

A man with a prior conviction for drunk driving is accused of being impaired while behind the wheel in a high-speed collision that killed two people on Kenaston Boulevard Saturday night.

Winnipeg Police Service traffic officers were called to the vicinity of Kenaston and Enterprise Drive around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, where they found a 31-year-old man dead and a 25-year-old woman seriously injured, police spokesman Const. Pat Saydak said Monday.

“Two people are dead because of an impaired driver,” said Saydak.

Paramedics rushed the woman to hospital, in critical condition, but she later died.

Investigators learned a speeding pickup truck was travelling southbound on Kenaston when it veered onto the shoulder of the road, striking the two victims, Saydak said.

Police found a bicycle in the area, but at this point it’s unclear to investigators whether one or both of the victims were riding the bike or if the couple were walking with it when they were struck.

Loved ones identified the victims as Kerry Ashley Bonner and Egor Popov, who were in a relationship and shared a child together.

Police appealed for anyone with information or relevant dash camera or other video footage to call the traffic division at 204-986-7085.

The driver fled from the scene in the truck, but was located nearby, police said. Saydak would not elaborate on where the arrest took place or whether the driver was still in the truck at the time officers found him.

Police determined the accused was impaired, but Saydak would not say whether he was believed to be impaired by alcohol, high on another drug or a combination of both.

“She was a happy, young woman with a lot of life ahead of her.”

Bonner’s three sisters — Lisa, Julia and Nicole — gathered Monday afternoon around a sacred fire burning in the backyard of a Point Douglas home.

Such fires typically remain lit for several days after a death.

“She was a happy, young woman with a lot of life ahead of her,” Lisa said, fighting back tears.

Bonner had been in a relationship with Popov, who immigrated from Kyrgyzstan about eight years ago.

“I met him on Old Market Square,” said Julia Bonner’s partner, Eddy Barahona, who goes by Dancing Bear.

“We’ve been friends since. He had been dating my sister-in-law for the past (two) years. They were together all of the time, and they died together.”

The family learned of the tragedy Sunday morning when police came to Julia’s home.

They said they had only learned details about the collision from media reports.

Bonner was a member of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. Her family is hopeful the chief and council will assist with funeral expenses.

Chief Angela Levasseur didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Tanya Hansen Pratt, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, said the fatal crash did not need to happen.

“Every time I hear about another crash, there’s really that initial sadness and frustration, because every impaired driving crash is 100 per cent preventable,” said Pratt.

“Knowing that more lives have been destroyed because of somebody’s poor decision is so very frustrating, and I wish that we could get through to every single driver on the road, that they need to keep the act of consuming alcohol — consuming any type of drug — completely separate from the act of driving.”

Kuldeep Singh Gill, 41, has been charged with two counts each of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

He remains in custody. The Free Press has confirmed the pickup truck was not stolen.

Gill was arrested for driving while impaired by alcohol in July 2016.

He pleaded guilty in provincial court and was barred from driving for a year and fined $1,500.

Pratt, whose own mother was killed by an impaired driver near Portage la Prairie in 1999, said she was not surprised to learn the accused had a prior conviction for impaired driving.

“It’s not entirely uncommon,” she said.

She added there has been legislative progress made in getting alcohol ignition interlocks put in place — essentially a breathalyzer that a driver must blow and pass before a vehicle’s ignition can start — in certain convicted impaired driver’s vehicles, including in Manitoba.

“That has the potential to save many, many lives, because impaired drivers simply won’t be able to operate the vehicles.”

Pratt noted a new federal law in the United States will require all new vehicles sold in that country to include some form of impaired driving prevention system by 2026.

“That has the potential to save many, many lives, because impaired drivers simply won’t be able to operate the vehicles,” said Pratt.

MADD Canada has had discussions about the matter with politicians here, but officials at the non-profit are waiting to see how the law rolls out down south before further lobbying for legislative changes in Canada.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca