The driver whose car passed an intersection and entered the Red Cross building in Victoria recalls the incident: “My mother told me after the fact, ‘I looked up and it looked like you were dancing in the “I wasn’t dancing, Mom, I was having a fit.”
John Enever was driving to his mother’s house in James Bay after a day of sightseeing on the island when everything turned black.
When his body convulsed and his foot hit the accelerator of his SUV, he pushed two cars parked at the traffic light at the intersection of Quadra Street and Fairfield Road, hit a pedestrian and crashed into a building.
“My mom told me after the fact, ‘I looked up and it sounded like you were dancing to the music,'” Enever, 49, of Vancouver, said. “I said, ‘I wasn’t dancing, Mom, I was having a seizure.’
The crash at the Fairfield intersection at 4:30 p.m. on May 10 sent Enever to the hospital with a broken femur, his mother with injuries to his shoulder and back, and his friend Hilda, who has been visiting since of Mexico, with a cut on the back of the leg. Police have not reported the condition of the pedestrian.
Enver’s beloved dog, Rita, a seven-year-old Labrador-Shepherd, suffered a spinal cord injury that left her partially paralyzed and sacrificed, while Marker, an 11-year-old terrier, was only soft tissue lesions.
Enever had been to Victoria from Vancouver to teach Hilda the island and introduce her to her mother, Penny Pitcher, 76.
Her mother and son picked Hilda on her return from the Malahat Skywalk, Hilda chose to visit Butchart Gardens, and the three were just five minutes from Pitcher’s house in James Bay when all their lives changed. .
It is unknown at this time what caused the convulsions. A battery of tests (a brain MRI, an EEG and an ECG and blood tests) could not find a cause.
Enever says he was told his legs were locked, pressing the accelerator pedal to the ground, before his BMW SUV crashed into a sedan carrying parents and two young children, which in turn hit. with a Smart Car. “Luckily, no one else was injured,” Enever said.
Enever’s vehicle then continued at the crossroads on the left, over a sidewalk where a pedestrian had to jump to a safe place, and finally stopped at the door of the building. Canadian Red Cross at the corner of the intersection.
Luckily, a doctor went to the scene and the paramedics arrived quickly.
“It had no dust,” said Enever, who found himself sunk on the driver’s steering wheel. All the airbags in the vehicle had been deployed.
Enever’s clothes were ripped off and CPR was started, he doesn’t know for whom. He gets angry telling witnesses and medical staff.
“I got to the back of an ambulance with the manager holding my hand,” Enever said. She asked the paramedic about her mother and her dogs.
Her mother was hospitalized for nine days with extensive pain in her shoulder, back and legs and is wearing an orthopedic. Her friend Hilda was sewn and discharged. Enever had a titanium rod screwed to his femur. He spent eight days in the hospital, in the hallway for the last three. The fourth person, a pedestrian, was never reported to be taken to hospital that day.
Enever does not regret the injuries or the loss of his vehicle, which he had only acquired six weeks earlier, but it is terrible that his mother, who was fit and living independently, is now in pain and in need of support at home.
He also says his grief over the loss of his dog has been aggravated by what he considers an excessive bill from the vet, who says he was given 24 hours to pay while he was still in the hospital.
Following the accident, Enever’s dogs were taken in by Victoria Animal Control, which may authorize the care of the animals until the owner can do so.
Once Central Veterinary Hospital Victoria was able to contact Enever on May 11, after her surgery, she opted for euthanasia on Rita after learning that she had a spinal cord injury. “If he can’t run, swim or chase his frisbee, he has no life.”
The vet sent Enever a picture of Rita with a note, as if she had written it: “Hi Dad! It’s your girl, Rita, who’s coming in to say goodbye to you … Just “I know I love you Dad! Until we meet again, Rita.”
Enever drowns reading the letter and his answer. He called it a sweet expression, but said it was all business after all.
Enever said he was overwhelmed at the hospital trying to understand the arrangements and costs while being “doped with morphine” and without his reading glasses. He understood that it was about $ 600 for Marker if he had someone pick him up immediately and $ 1,000 to sacrifice Rita.
“And then they send me a bill while I’m still in the hospital for $ 2,800 and they change it with a letter of demand that has to be paid in 24 hours.”
Marker’s bill was $ 609.58, and Rita’s was $ 2,253.13 for stabilization, pain medication, hospitalization, and euthanasia, for a total bill of $ 2,862.71. .
A letter sent by e-mail dated May 12 from Victoria Central Veterinary Hospital stated that payment had to be made within 24 hours, after which Rita would be cremated.
When he got back to Vancouver, Enever said, he told the company he thought the bill was unreasonable: “almost $ 3,000 to leave your dog essentially and take care of the other one for a day” – and he try to negotiate the amount, but it was If the bill was not paid in full, you would be charged two percent monthly interest before it was sent to a collection agency.
“Unfortunately, the initial costs were cleared by Victoria Animal Control when they brought your dogs, which they are allowed to do,” the veterinary hospital said in an exchange of messages.
The Times Colonist contacted VCA Canada in Calgary, after which they accepted Enver’s payment of $ 1,000, which he was told would be donated to his charity that helps disadvantaged pet owners who they need it.
Enever said that in the last three months, she has made several trips to the island to help her mother, who is not driving, after the recent death of her husband. She had been waiting for a good day to take her to the Malahat Skywalk.
Look at the digital map showing the crash site and her mother’s house.
“We were five minutes from my mom’s house,” he said. “So absolutely devastating.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com