Victims, families react with mixed emotions

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This article was published 27/06/2024 (675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Survivors and families of victims were filled with mixed and raw emotions after learning charges will not be laid in a Carberry-area crash that killed 17 seniors a year ago.

For some, the decision not to pursue Criminal Code or Highway Traffic Act charges against a bus driver who was at fault in the June 15, 2023 collision was expected.

“Whatever we were told (Tuesday) can’t really change anything,” said survivor Alex Senyk, 74, who has no recollection of the crash. “It’s water under the bridge, or whatever. There’s not much anybody can do.”

Senyk, fellow survivors and families were told about the decision during a meeting with the Crown and RCMP in Dauphin Tuesday. The decision was announced publicly in Winnipeg Wednesday.

Senyk, who suffered serious injuries and has not fully recovered, believes someone should be held accountable.

“It wasn’t the best news, I guess. I expected that,” he said.

Chantel Uhrich, whose uncle Frank Perzylo, 82, and aunt Rose Perzylo, 80, died in the crash, was heartbroken for everyone involved, following the announcement.

“I think that’s the only word I can use to sum it up,” she said. “There are no winners in this, whether the Crown had laid charges or not.”

Uhrich expected the decision that was reached, after a year-long police investigation and review by Manitoba Prosecutions.

“I think I was hoping there would be some blame placed, but at the same time I don’t think there’s any good outcome that could come from that,” said Uhrich, who lives in Alberta. “There was an error, and it cost 17 people’s lives. They need to find fault somewhere, because all of those people mattered.”

RCMP major crimes Staff Sgt. Sean Grunewald, who attended Tuesday’s two-hour meeting, said officials understand there will be different emotions regarding the decision.

“We feel that the families understood the situation and we felt that even though some may not agree, that that’s OK,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I believe that they feel we put every ounce into getting the answers that they were looking for.”

Vanderhooft, primary case investigator Sgt. Janna Amirault and an RCMP family liaison team were also present to explain the decision, answer questions and offer support.

“In any collision that results in fatalities, they’re difficult for people to deal with because they’re sudden losses, and the families struggle for answers, and that’s always hard,” said Vanderhooft.

Uhrich worried the Crown’s decision could set a precedent and allow people to use blind spots or obstructions as an excuse when at fault for a collision.

Vanderhooft said prosecutors are not concerned about the decision setting a precedent because each case of dangerous driving is decided on specific factual circumstances.

Uhrich still has questions about the bus driver’s decision to proceed through the intersection and actions that could have possibly prevented the tragedy.

She also thinks about the tractor-trailer driver, who tried to avoid the collision when the bus drove into his path.

“I can’t imagine what he goes through on a daily basis,” she said.

The Manitoba government is looking at medium-term options to redesign the intersection to make it safer. The province has said a grade-separated interchange project would take 20 to 25 years.

Uhrich said she hopes it doesn’t take that long to come up with a long-term solution, given that lives are at stake.

Ernie Sirski, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dauphin, said his thoughts were with the survivors, victims and their families, after the Crown shared details of the final seconds before the crash.

“If anybody in the bus saw it coming, they must have been terrified,” he said. “I can’t imagine what the families are going through. It was just a tragedy. It’s something we will never forget.”

Sirski said the region lost founders of community, and matriarchs and patriarchs of families.

“Part of our history got erased when this happened,” he said.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Erik Pindera