RCMP said a 30-year-old man had been arrested and charged, after an individual was dragged, and then hit, by a vehicle driven by an impaired driver – and a witness to the incident spoke to CTV News about what they saw.
Officers were called to the area of 51 Street and 47 Avenue in Calmar at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday following a crash involving a pedestrian.
CTV News has learned the incident happened after a couple tried to leave a party while impaired.
“We had already offered him a place to stay, we had seven trailers, we even offered to pay for a cab if they really had to go,” Rob Huppie, a witness to the incident, said.
The alleged driver, identified by RCMP and Huppie as Zachary Dingman, 30, and his girlfriend hopped into a truck to drive away. Huppie said a crowd of people at the party tried to intervene, one jumped onto the running board and tried to reach inside the cab of the truck.
“He was reaching trying to turn off the ignition,” Huppie said.
The driver didn’t stop, and the man slipped but held on to the outside of the truck. He was dragged a short distance before he let go near a ditch, when he was struck by the truck.
“He got dragged underneath the back left tire, and I think luckily enough, the weight was off-shifted off the truck,” Huppie said.
The crowd rushed to help the victim until paramedics arrived – the victim reportedly suffered a fractured vertebra, and cuts and bruises. He was taken to hospital but has since been released.
Dingman has been arrested and charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, failure to stop or remain at an accident and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
