B.C. driver charged after homeless woman struck and seriously injured while sleeping

1 month_ago 12

British Columbia

A B.C. operator has been arrested and charged aft a stateless pistillate was struck portion sleeping successful a backmost alley successful Campbell River, B.C., past November, constabulary say.

RCMP accidental operator was apprehended aft incidental successful a Campbell River, B.C., backmost alley

Maryse Zeidler · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 29

A smiling pistillate with agelong brownish hairsbreadth and a reddish tuque and a bluish jacket.

A B.C. operator has been arrested and charged aft a stateless pistillate was struck portion sleeping successful a backmost alley successful Campbell River, B.C., past November, constabulary say.

Amberlee Joan Herman, 38, has been charged with:

Two counts of impaired cognition of a centrifugal conveyance causing bodily harm.
One number of unsafe cognition of a centrifugal vehicle.
One number of battle with a weapon.
One number of uttering threats.

The incidental happened astatine 12:30 a.m. on November 10, 2024, adjacent Shopper's Row. At the time, constabulary said the operator had been apprehended astatine the scene.

Warrant for arrest

The B.C. Prosecution Service says the charges were laid connected April 10.

Earlier this month, the prosecution work and Const. Maury Tyre with the Campbell River RCMP said there was a warrant retired for Herman's arrest.

The prosecution work says the warrant was executed connected May 20, and Herman was released connected an undertaking that aforesaid day.

Herman's adjacent tribunal quality is June 16, 2025, successful Campbell River.

Long recovery

CBC News has tried to contact the victim, 53-year-old Darlene Smith , done household but was incapable to scope her.

Smith's sister, Samantha Billy, said earlier this period that Smith was backmost surviving connected the streets, pursuing the incident. Billy antecedently told CBC News that Smith had faced a long, aggravated betterment aft she was hit.

Initially treated astatine the ICU astatine Vancouver General Hospital, Billy said her sister sustained fractures to her spine, ribs and chest. She besides had to be intubated to assistance her breathing.

A pistillate successful a infirmary furniture with abbreviated hairsbreadth and tubes coming retired of her chemoreceptor smiles arsenic different pistillate wearing a bluish infirmary headdress leans into the lens beside her.

She was aboriginal moved to the infirmary successful Nanaimo, Billy said implicit Facebook Messenger past December.

There, Smith was starting to walk, and her representation was dilatory coming back.

"Her assemblage inactive has a agelong mode to go. She has a hard clip sitting agelong and lone walks a fewer steps," Billy said astatine the time.

"We are hopeful she is connected her bully healing travel and successful bully spirits."

Billy said her sister had been surviving successful Campbell River for a fewer years, moving astir antithetic areas. She had been surviving successful the structure with her lad and daughter-in-law, who had stepped retired conscionable 15 minutes earlier the crash.

Other radical were besides injured by the driver, Billy said, but RCMP spokesperson Const. Maury Tyre said helium wasn't capable to corroborate that.