The Nanaimo man who fled from police and drove head-on into another vehicle, killing himself and the other driver, had previously served jail time for dangerous driving causing death.
Kurtis Timothy, 31, has been identified by sources as the driver of the white pickup truck that was travelling the wrong way on the Trans-Canada Highway near Nanaimo early Monday, slamming into a red SUV driven by Cliff Bishop, 54, of Cassidy.
The Independent Investigations Office is looking into a Nanaimo RCMP officer’s interactions with the driver of the pickup before the crash. The police watchdog is also looking into the driver’s background and whether the pickup was stolen.
Timothy was 19 when he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in connection with a May 5, 2006, crash that killed his friend Daniel Hahto. Timothy was driving a stolen vehicle when he crashed on a sharp curve on Hammond Bay Road in Nanaimo.
Timothy fled but surrendered to Nanaimo RCMP later that day. He was given a four-month jail sentence plus credit for time served, along with a three-year driving prohibition and 18 months of probation.
In 2016, Timothy was the subject of a B.C.-wide warrant for uttering threats. Nanaimo RCMP said at the time he might be in possession of a gun and should be considered armed and dangerous.
At about 12:40 a.m. Monday, a Nanaimo RCMP officer saw a white GMC pickup truck leaving a residence in the Harewood area near 10th Street. The officer turned on the patrol car’s lights and sirens to pull over the truck, but the driver failed to stop and continued to the Trans-Canada Highway.
The truck was last seen heading south in the northbound lanes of the highway, where it slammed into a red SUV driven by Bishop between Cedar Road and Duke Point Highway.
The IIO’s investigation will try to piece together the interaction between the police officer and Tiimothy, including the distance between the police vehicle and the pickup at the time of the crash.
Bishop was a long-haul truck driver with decades of experience, according to his niece Melanie Mercer, who lives in Newfoundland, where Bishop grew up.
He was married to Selina for 11 years. He has a son from a previous relationship who died in an accident in July 2017, and two stepdaughters.
Bishop loved his family and the road, Mercer said. He had driven thousands of kilometres on the Trans-Canada Highway and recently received a certificate from his company for safe and responsible driving, she said.
Mercer said it’s not fair that Bishop “lost his life on that same highway to the hands of another. This was such an unnecessary and untimely death. We are truly devastated.”
The Independent Investigations Office investigates police-involved injuries or deaths to determine whether an officer committed an offence.
The agency is asking anyone who witnessed the crash or has dashcam video of the pickup as it travelled on the Trans-Canada Highway to contact the IIO witness line at 1-855-446-8477.
