'Nothing short of insanity,' says VPD of crash at 250km/h that left a teen with head trauma, broken bones

Chinese national Yue Wang accused of going five times the speed limit in a crash that seriously hurt a teen

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A driver accused of going of 250 kilometres an hour before crashing in a residential Vancouver neighbourhood nearly a year ago has been charged.

The accused was driving his 17-year-old passenger, an acquaintance, from Richmond back home to Vancouver, when at 57th Avenue and Southwest Marine Drive, he lost control and crashed onto the property of a home.

Vancouver Police Constable Brian Montague says it took an hour before the pair was found.

“This is a fairly remote part of Vancouver. The houses are very large and the properties are very large. The owner of the home did hear something, he looked out his window and couldn’t see anything and traffic going by wasn’t able to see anything other than some debris on the road. It was dark [at the time] and, like I said, it was a fairly remote area and they were hidden amongst the trees and the bushes in this person’s yard.”

Montague has been an officer for more than two decades and is amazed no one else was hurt.

“We are very lucky, I think, that we didn’t pull two dead bodies out of this vehicle. Clearly he’s not thinking. We have someone behind the wheel of a car who has total disregard for others using the road and for his passenger. There’s nothing other than stupidity that I can use to explain his driving at that time.”

He adds the evidence in this case was damning.

“We have skid marks to look at. We have debris fields. We have the damage to the vehicle. But we also have access to the event data recorder in the vehicle and the airbag control module — this provides our investigators with a huge amount of data which includes everything from braking to acceleration and speeds that were involved just prior to collisions.”

“The evidence we provided Crown indicates he was travelling at five times the speed limit on a fairly narrow, two-lane piece of roadway. The only word I have to describe that is ‘insane.'”

The passenger suffered serious injuries including several fractured facial bones, brain swelling and possible eye damage.

The 19-year-old driver, a Chinese national, left the country after the crash but returned to Vancouver for a citizenship ceremony last week.

“Whether or not he knew there was a warrant out for his arrest, I’m not sure,” adds Montague, who points out the accused missed the ceremony.

Yue Hui Wang has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm. He has been released from custody until his next court appearance.

He has had his passport revoked and isn’t allowed to drive.

(Courtesy Vancouver Police)

(Courtesy Vancouver Police)

(Courtesy Vancouver Police)

(Courtesy Vancouver Police)