Witnesses say Kelowna driver who critically injured cyclist was drinking, distracted and lied to police

"CAN YOU COME HELP ME STAND UP BECAUSE I'VE JUST BEEN HIT BY A TRUCK"

KELOWNA – A cyclist who was hit by a truck and critically injured in Rutland last week told his girlfriend police have the wrong man pegged as the driver.

Jill Hamer, 40, had just left dinner with her common-law husband Trevor Bohac and was shopping for groceries at Coopers Foods on Highway 33 shortly after 6 p.m. Sept. 1.

“Trevor called and said ‘can you come help me stand up because I’ve just been hit by a truck,’” Hamer says. “I ran. Within a minute I was with him.”

RCMP Cpl. Joe Duncan says a cyclist was hit at that time on the 200 block of Robson Road in Rutland and that the driver of the truck was a 23-year-old Kelowna man. Hamer says that’s not what her boyfriend said before he slipped into a coma at Kelowna General Hospital.

Bohac, 42, has been in a coma since the day after the accident. He was brought into hospital with a broken leg and scrapes but he has since been diagnosed with a fat embolism, a condition where material from the broken bone gets into the bloodstream.

Hamer says doctors told her the embolism has affected his lungs, heart and brain.

“His brain is riddled with debris and every part of his brain is affected,” she says. “He’s on life support and his chance of recovery is very, very low.”

Hamer, who was planning on travelling with Bohac to Thailand this winter, says police have not asked her for a statement and that she had to call the detachment herself to tell them what Trevor said when she found him on the sidewalk.

“Trevor was awake and he was alert after he was hit and he said there was a totally different driver,” she says. “When the old man got out of the truck to see if Trevor was okay he smelled like alcohol. It was an older man not the young person.”

Aside from allegedly being drunk, Hamer says she also heard Bohac accusing the older man of using his cell phone while driving.

“Trevor was extremely angry,” she says. “I smelled the alcohol on him myself.”

Hamer says a witness at the scene told Bohac it looked to her like the old man sped up to get into his driveway.

“We don’t think it was intentional but he probably thought he could beat Trevor and didn’t realize how fast he was going on his bike.”

Cpl. Joe Duncan says police are now aware of the allegations and continue their investigation. No charges have been laid.

Hamer says friends and family continue to have hope he will recover.

“It’s a matter of keeping a balance between having hope and being realistic," she says. 

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.