{"id":4783,"date":"2025-08-06T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7305442"},"modified":"2025-08-06T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:00:00","slug":"south-okanagan-woman-charged-with-impaired-driving-causing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4783\/south-okanagan-woman-charged-with-impaired-driving-causing-death\/","title":{"rendered":"South Okanagan woman charged with impaired driving causing death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A South Okanagan woman has been charged with impaired driving following a fatal car crash last summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa Reis Lameiras is said to have had meth in her system when the Ford Explorer she was driving crossed the centre line on Highway 97 near Oliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander LaFortuner was hit head-on and killed in the collision that took place at about 8 a.m. July 31, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lameiras was scheduled to appear in a Penticton courtroom Aug. 6, having been charged almost a year after the crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 30-year-old was charged with dangerous driving causing death, drug or drunk driving causing death, and having methamphetamine in her system while driving and causing death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the fatal crash, the RCMP said a 1992 white Ford Explorer crossed the centre line and struck a vehicle travelling southbound head-on. Police at the time wanted to speak to witnesses who may have seen the driving behaviour before the collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to her Facebook account, Lameiras is in a relationship with prolific offender Andrew Hardenstine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardenstine has more than 60 convictions under his belt and made recent headlines when weapons charges were thrown out of court <\/a>because RCMP officers breached his Charter Rights and tasered him 10 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lameiras is scheduled to be back in court Aug. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the charges have been proven in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fatal crash happened last summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":4784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":null,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[492,493],"tags":[],"region":[206,207,208,209],"class_list":["post-4783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4783\/south-okanagan-woman-charged-with-impaired-driving-causing-death\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"South Okanagan woman charged with impaired driving causing death","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4783\/south-okanagan-woman-charged-with-impaired-driving-causing-death\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4783\/south-okanagan-woman-charged-with-impaired-driving-causing-death\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-hd-mediaitemid110119-5333.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-hd-mediaitemid110119-5333.jpg"},"articleSection":"local","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Bulmer"}],"creator":["Ben Bulmer"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-08-07T02:00:00Z","datePublished":"2025-08-07T02:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-08-07T02:00:00Z"},"rendered":"