LITCHFIELD, N.S. — A 20-year-old Round Hill woman, who was driving her car to pick up a friend, ended up in the ditch upside down after rolling the vehicle numerous times.
Her mother said it was no accident. She said her daughter’s small car was rammed from behind about half a dozen times by a much larger SUV.
RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Clarke confirmed there was a crash on July 16 at about 5:45 p.m. on Shore Road at Litchfield. RCMP, Annapolis Royal Fire, and EHS were all at the scene.
“RCMP were advised by a witness that two vehicles went by her home at a high rate of speed and were involved in a collision,” Clarke said. “The driver of the white SUV left the scene in his vehicle and was later located by police.”
Clarke said the other driver's vehicle, a grey sedan, overturned and ended up in the ditch.
“The driver was transported to hospital with injuries which are not believed to be life threatening,” she said.
The victim’s mother said her daughter was taken by ambulance to Digby General Hospital and then sent to Yarmouth for a more detailed look at her neck. She was later released but instructed to return to the hospital for another evaluation the next day.
She said her daughter was left with bruises, cuts, neck injury, and scrapes.
Annapolis Royal fire chief Andrew Cranton said they had personnel in the area at the time and were on the scene in minutes.
“She self-extricated herself before we got there,” Cranton said, “we never had to use the jaws of life. We actually had a truck over there shuttling water for a pool and he was on scene within minutes of the initial call.”
He said firefighters administered first aid and later secured the scene. The woman was covered in dust from head to toes, he said, and very, very shook up.
“She hit hard,” Cranton said. “I asked her if she’d been wearing her seat belt and she said she was. That’s the only thing that saved her.”
The woman had been driving west towards DeLaps Cove and ended up in the ditch on the east-bound side.
The driver of the SUV was charged under the Criminal Code with assault with a weapon and dangerous driving, Clarke said. He was released and is scheduled to attend Annapolis Provincial Court on Aug. 28.
Clarke said the investigation is ongoing, and the RCMP is looking into the events that occurred immediately before the collision.
The woman’s mother said her daughter had just started a new job last week in Digby.
“She was crying in the hospital about missing work because of the accident,” the mother said. “She loves where she works. The car that is totaled - she and her step father together fixed it up and did a lot of work on it so she’d have a good car to get to work. Now it’s all gone.”
The woman’s mother said that even two days later her daughter is reliving the crash and the events leading up to it.
“She is very shaken up,” she said. “It was very terrifying for her.”
