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This article was published 11/09/2012 (3915 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Samantha Schlichting was a vibrant young woman, family say, and the loving mother of two young children.

Now she is gone, the victim of an alleged drunk driver who slammed into her car on the Perimeter Highway early Sunday morning.

Just before 4 a.m. that day, Schlichting was driving her 2001 Buick Century west on the Perimeter. She was about 1.5 kilometres east of St. Anne’s Road when her car was struck head-on by a 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck.

Police say the truck was driving the wrong way down the highway’s westbound lane when the crash occurred.

Schlichting was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her passenger, a 23-year-old man, was left clinging to life in critical condition.

The driver of the Chevy truck walked away without injury after a collision police say was fuelled by alcohol. There were no other occupants in the truck.

On Monday, Schlichting’s great-aunt, Betty Schlichting, recalled cherished memories of her grand-niece as a young girl with beautiful red curls who would smile sweetly at her grandparents in church.

“She was very bubbly, but she was also a little reserved,” Betty recalled. She said her grand-niece seemed like a “very caring person.”

Samantha Schlichting came from a large, close-knit family and was a doting mother to her two children, who are about three months and almost two years old, respectively.

The driver of the Chevy pickup that struck the Buick was taken into custody shortly after the crash on Sunday.

David Delisle, 49, of Grande Pointe, has been charged with impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, refusing to give a breathalyzer test and possessing marijuana resin.

Delisle appeared in court Monday morning and was granted bail by Judge Kelly Moar.

The accused is banned from driving, prohibited from consuming alcohol and must adhere to a nightly curfew. He cannot be out of his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The details of the bail hearing cannot be reported due to a publication ban.

 

— with files from Mike McIntyre

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca