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Motorist runs over cyclist, drives away with bike under SUV

A woman who ran over a cyclist on a remote road in winter — and then screamed at him to remove his bike from beneath her truck — was jailed Monday by a provincial court judge.
Justice court generic photo
Renee Braun pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court to failing to stop at an accident, driving without a licence and several breaches of a court order.

A woman who ran over a cyclist on a remote road in winter — and then screamed at him to remove his bike from beneath her truck — was jailed Monday by a provincial court judge.

Prosecutor Catriona Elliott outlined circumstances in a sentence hearing for Renee Braun, who pleaded guilty to failing to stop at an accident, driving without a licence and several breaches of a court order.

Braun didn’t show up for a trial date and was arrested by RCMP in Alberta earlier this month. She’s been in jail since.

Elliott said the cyclist was travelling down a snow-covered road near Seton Portage, west of Lillooet, in March last year, while Braun was going uphill. The two hit head-on.

“He recalls Ms. Braun calling him a stupid native and telling him to get his bike from under her car.”

The cyclist was in the ditch, suffering a leg injury. His leg badly swollen, he was later taken by helicopter to hospital because paramedics believed the limb was broken.

Braun drove away, dragging the bike beneath her SUV. She stopped farther up the road, asking a worker parked at the side if she could borrow a hammer to remove the bike.

“She said she’d just hit a kid and her nerves were very rattled,” Elliott said.

Braun, a 46-year old former retail shop owner with a science degree, was serving a conditional sentence order at the time for production of a controlled substance.

Defence lawyer Ken Sommerfeld said alcohol was at the root of Braun’s problems.

“My client feels she gave him as much room as she could without going off the road,” he said, adding she was “panicking” after the accident.

Braun told judge Roy Dickey she was “appalled at what I did.”

“I can’t change my past but I can improve my future,” she said.

Dickey agreed with a joint submission from the Crown and defence, jailing Braun for 79 more days. She will also spend a year on probation, during which time she must attend AA meetings three times a week.