Fighting couple run over on Trans-Canada
Fri, 2008-02-08 08:11
#1
remind
Fighting couple run over on Trans-Canada
Fri, 2008-02-08 08:11
#2
remind
Did not know whether to put this in the feminism forum or in national news, as it could go in both. As the woman fled the taxi to get away from her partner, he followed her and apparently detained her in the middle of the highway where they were both struck several times by cars and were killed.
The on line articles do not seem to have the coverage the morning news had.
quote:
A man and woman were riding in a taxi around 6 p.m. on the highway near Lickman Road when they began to fight, the driver told police.The driver stopped the cab beneath an overpass, he said to police, and when the woman got out, the man went after her. They ended up in the middle of the highway's westbound lane, where they were first struck by a van and then other following vehicles.
The accident caused a chain reaction that eventually involved as many as eight vehicles
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/02/07/bc-chill.html]A tragic accident in Chilliwack, B.C., [/url]
Fri, 2008-02-08 08:21
#3
Tragic indeed. Tragic also that they are calling this instance of extreme wife assault a "fighting couple", and that some will even manage to add this murderer's death to their bogus statistics of "male victims of domestic violence", as they do when they ratchet up their numbers by including male mass killers of "their" wife and children (e.g. Chris Benoit and Michel Veillette) who suicide afterwards.
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 08:46
#4
remind
who is calling it that Martin?
Fri, 2008-02-08 08:56
#5
"Fighting couple"? It's the title of the CBC News story hyperlinked above.
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:06
#6
remind
oh, yes, I get what you are saying, martin,not enough coffee yet this morning, it appears. I had thought you had read another report that states he was the victim.
Yes, to categorize it as a "fighting couple" when the woman left the taxi to get away from him and he follows and detains her in the middle of the highway under the underpass.
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:33
#7
Very tragic indeed. The story doesn't say anything about spousal abuse though....did I miss something? They were fighting, she jumped out and he ran after her.....
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:38
#8
rural - Francesca
She left the argument and her pursuded her, and potentially didn't let her "escape".
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:41
#9
remind
1-7, the morning news carried more information than the on line articles that I could find.
Such as [b]he detained her[/b] in the middle of the highway, where they were struck by at least 4 cars, and killed.
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:43
#10
I'm not sure where in the article it says that he forced her to stay in the middle of the road where cars hit them. It also doesn't say why he followed her out of the car. I think it's jumping to conclusions to assume that he was being violent. It could be that, but it could just as easily be that he followed her out of the car because he didn't want her to run into the road.
Unless there have been reports other than this article that have said more.
Edited to add: sorry, remind, I didn't see your most recent post before this one, so I didn't realize you were going by other news reports on this.
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:45
#11
The story said he "went after her". In the middle of a busy highway at 6 a.m. this is spousal abuse and, at the very least, endangering her life. Had he survived her death, he certainly should have been tried for it.
One can protest this media treatment by clicking Feedback on the CBC news site or by writing the [url=http://www.cbc.ca/ombudsman/page/contact.html]CBC Ombudsman[/url] directly. (I know news editors [b]really [/b]hate being caught with their pants down like this.)
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:56
#12
remind
Yes, I stated i was also going by other news reports in the OP, and am watching news feeds to see if there is more information available, like why did the taxi stop where it did? what happened in the taxi that prompted her to jump out and leave? And how long did he detain her in the middle of the highway?
Vehicles clip along there at about 120k and never below 100k.
Fri, 2008-02-08 09:56
#13
I'll be watching the news tonight for sure to see how they report this story. Thanks for that CBC Obudsman link Martin.
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:26
#14
remind
CKNW had an even worse report than the CBC, which actually was the best one I could find on line.
quote:
The couple stepped out of a taxi cab on the shoulder of the freeway and set out across the thoroughfare at Lickman Road in Chilliwack. They were quickly struck by several vehicles and killed instantly.
[url=http://www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=85173&red=801...
As the linked article above goes on to state, there is nothing there that would warrant her getting out of the vehicle, so I am assuming that the taxi pulled over at her request so that she could get out and escape what was going on within.
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:33
#15
At her request? Not sure if you can manage that when a guy is hitting you ('fight' being the usual media euphemism for actual blows). It may be that the cab driver chose to stop by a overpass just so they could have a way to get off the highway once he'd ordered them out of his car. Have any of you ever driven a taxicab and been involved in such a situation? Are there any guidelines in place, such as Get rid of prime aggressor and drive the other person to relative safety? Or immediately call 911?
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:36
#16
Honestly, I don't see why that's "worse". Journalists who report hard news can't just write what they assume probably happened.
So far, I haven't seen any quotes from any witnesses saying that the man was being violent or abusive. You know, it IS possible for a man and a woman to have a big argument without it being spousal abuse. We have no idea why she left the taxi, and we have no idea why he went after her. We have no idea what anyone's mental state was at the time. We have no idea what happened in the middle of the road, at least not from any of the reports posted so far.
And yet, we're assuming that this guy was abusive, that he was hitting her, that he forced her to run into the road, that he forced her to stand still in oncoming traffic, and now that he killed her.
I mean, all of that MIGHT have happened. But there is no indication of that here.
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:45
#17
You're right. I was assuming that the CBC story and the other media report(s) heard by Remind were based on what the witnesses - cab driver and possibly the first vehicle to hit them - told police or journalists about the man's agency, e.g. "went after her".
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:55
#18
There is absolutely no evidence he was being violent to her, maybe he was but there is nothing I've seen yet to back that up that conclusion.
I sure hope no innocent person is ever on trial with some of you on the jury.
Talk about hanging the guy, not only before the trial but even before the investigation.
Fri, 2008-02-08 10:55
#19
True. But he might have went after her to try to try to convince her to get back into the car if he thought she was in danger, which she clearly was. Maybe he chased her out of the car - or maybe she got pissed off and jumped out of the car and he ran after her, trying to protect her. Maybe he risked his life jumping into traffic to try and pull her to safety. Who knows? The cab driver didn't say.
And people use the word "fighting" to mean "arguing" too, not necessarily hitting.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:04
#20
The operative word in the report(s) heard by remind is "detained". It cost this woman her life...
I will be looking for the driver's witness testimony and the coroner's report(unless this is simply written off as an accident). But it will probably not make the news by then.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:11
#21
people shouldn't jump to conclusions - wait for more evidence
I know when a cousin of mine died in a construction accident, I googled him and the accident looking for anything I could find written about him.
I'm just saying you shouldn't slander someone without evidence to back up yr accusation.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:16
#22
One should also refrain from taking anything that is reported in the MSM at face value. They get most of the stories screwed up.
This is certainly extremely tragic for the couple and the taxi driver and the other drivers that inadvertently killed these people or ran over their dead bodies. Just the thought of someone on a freeway is extremely unsettling.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:17
#23
remind
The noon news very similar to the morning news, and they re-iterated that she "hopped out of the vehicle" after the male commenced arguing with her, and he went after her, but they deleted any comment that he was detaining her and indeed any taxi driver commentary at all.
Granted things could be different in the end result, but looking at this from a woman's perspective, I feel not. That underpass is literally no where, there are no stores, homes, or anything there. She would've have been jumping out into a place where she had to walk km's to get anywhere. It was dark windy and raining.
How bad does it have to be where you are at to do this?
The taxi driver did not say he pulled over to let them both out, because they were fighting, he said he pulled over and she got out, and then the male followed her.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:25
#24
quote:
The taxi driver did not say he pulled over to let them both out, because they were fighting, he said he pulled over and she got out, and then the male followed her.
I am wondering why the driver pulled over at such a place if there is nothing around there?
Also there is a law against stopping on a major highway unless it's an emergency. So why did the cabbie stop?
There's way more to this story than what we are getting right now.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:30
#25
Maybe he was being abusive - but it's all speculation.
Why did the cab driver stop? - we don't know maybe he wanted them both out.
Only the cabbie knows what happened before they got out.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:36
#26
Maybe the internal combustion engine ain't so great after all.
There was another article in the Australian paper about a "good samaritan", who went to retrieve a surfboard that fell off someone's car. The surfer didn't see the guy, pulled over, and backed right over the guy who was going to get his surfboard. (and killed him).
[ 14 February 2008: Message edited by: wwSwimming ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:41
#27
we could fill this thread with hypotheticals but I don't think that it's respectful to the very real dead people we're talking about.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:43
#28
quote:
we could fill this thread with hypotheticals but I don't think that it's respectful to the very real dead people we're talking about.
Well then, feel free not to post anymore on this.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:47
#29
I wasn't going to and that wasn't to tell anyone else what to do - just my opinion.
Fri, 2008-02-08 11:47
#30
remind
quote:
Originally posted by 1234567:
[b]I am wondering why the driver pulled over at such a place if there is nothing around there?Also there is a law against stopping on a major highway unless it's an emergency. So why did the cabbie stop?[/b]
Exactly, it wasn't just a normal pull over and drop off somewhere. It is not just a highway it is a freeway and pulling over is not allowed, nor is hitch hiking.
quote:
[b]There's way more to this story than what we are getting right now.[/b]
Oh ya, and I can't see, there not being an inquest, to many people hit them, and there was 8 cars involved in total.
I would imagine the taxi driver has contacted a lawyer too.
Fri, 2008-02-08 20:29
#31
I think this situation illustrates very clearly that in developing news stories you have to take the initial reports with a grain of salt. Reporters need to get the story out and go with what they have, which is often very little. Of course if they waited three days, then we could complain of a cover up and decry the media for failing to promptly cover this sort of thing. Usually stories tend to become more developped over time...but it's much more fun to jump to conclusions immediately.
Fri, 2008-02-08 20:44
#32
Vancouver Province account:
quote:
It's believed the pair were arguing in a taxicab when the woman suddenly jumped out onto the highway. The man gave chase before both were hit.
Canoe CNEWS:
quote:
Police say a 42-year-old woman from Surrey and 32-year-old man from Burnaby were in the cab heading to Surrey and may have been drunk.
The couple had a physical fight in the taxi, the woman asked the driver to pull over and she got out near Chilliwack.
The man followed the woman on to the highway and both were struck by westbound traffic near an overpass.
[ 08 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-02-08 21:38
#33
Polly B
I agree Michelle, way too little information to jump in with any sort of argument. It may just be a sad story of a drunken stupid argument that went wrong..I have known a few of those.