Calgary Sun

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Woman dies as car rams into meeting

Vehicle jumps embankment and slams; into bank during staff gathering

By BILL KAUFMANN, CALGARY SUN
 Tragic misfortune struck employees of a northeast bank when a car leapt an embankment yesterday and plunged into a boardroom just moments before a meeting there ended, killing a female teller.
At 11 a.m., witnesses said a car travelling at high speed north on Harvest Hills Blvd. N.E. careened through the intersection with Country Hills Blvd. and plummeted down a seven-metre embankment, plowing into an office of the Alberta Treasury Branch below.
Personal investment banker James Bilcox escaped death by centimetres when the car barrelled into the office where he sat with eight colleagues.
"All you heard was the revving of an engine and then an explosion, like a bomb almost," said Bilcox.
"I was pushed aside, but other people who were in the path of the car went under it."
He said the group was 30 seconds away from ending the meeting and comprised the entire staff in the building.
"What a freak thing -- we meet in there maybe 20 minutes a week," said Bilcox, who suffered minor injuries including burns from radiator fluid.
One woman was killed instantly while nine others including the driver were injured -- three of them critically.
The bank was just about to open for business when the tragedy occurred, also stunning witnesses.
"I saw a silver car probably going 120 kilometres per hour go through the fence over the hill and pieces of car flying up (out of the bank)," said UPS driver Scott Pither, 24.
"I almost had a heart attack ... if you ever saw Lethal Weapon, it was like a movie."
A silver, later-model Toyota Corolla lay embedded in the ruins of the office, its rear end protruding among scattered office chairs, chunks of desk and bricks.
A pair of hubcaps lay on Country Hills Blvd. at the spot where the car mounted the curb before becoming airborne.
Pither said he drove to the bank, where he tried to help.
"I heard two people screaming and there was a blond lady covered in blood," he said.
"We were trying to get the car up off people ... the car was right on top of a table."
Ben Babineau said he was also driving nearby when he saw the Toyota hurtle into the bank.
"One guy was sitting on a chair with blood all over his face ... one lady was under the car screaming -- she was trying to get out," said Babineau.
"The driver seemed OK -- his airbag seemed to have worked."
"I know I hurt people and I am very, very sorry, but I don't know anything that happened," said the driver, Rasheed Mirza.
The 68-year-old driver wasn't immediately taken to hospital, but he did suffer chest injuries.
Several bank employees emerged dazed, blood-spattered and weeping, often in the arms of colleagues.
"Oh my God -- they were all in that room having a sales meeting," said staffer Tracy Shoebridge, who'd arrived for work moments after the car struck.
The driver, wearing a parka, baseball cap and white beard sat just metres away in a police car showing little expression.
Police said the tragedy appears to have been an accident and still haven't determined why the car ran amok.
"Somebody wouldn't plan to do this kind of thing," said Insp. Tom Marriott.
Rescuers worked feverishly to free a woman trapped beneath the car and office debris, pulling her from the wreckage after 45 minutes spent in subzero temperatures.
"It's remarkable she wasn't more seriously injured -- that woman should go buy a lottery ticket," said EMS spokesman Mike Plato.
Family and friends of employees rushed to the scene, desperate to find out the fate of loved ones.
"My sister works there -- we don't know anything," said one crying woman, who was comforted by her brother.
Minutes later, she was informed by police that her sister had been killed.
Surviving employees -- some with cuts -- were taken to a nearby pizza lounge where they met with counsellors.
Treasury Branch's Calgary vice-president Peter O'Neill said staff will have as much time off to recuperate as they need.
The dead woman was well-liked by both her colleagues and bank customers, he said.
"I had clients today ask for that person by name -- she was just a good team player and the staff are just devastated," O'Neill, said of the one-year employee.
"I don't know what governs events like this, but (for a car) to find an office in a building of 6,000 square feet.
"I don't know what the odds are," he said.
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10 PATIENTS TREATED BY EMS
The following is a roundup of patients treated yesterday by 11 EMS paramedics:
* Patient #1 -- Female, age unknown; paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
* Patient #2 -- Male, 34; broken jaw, head and facial lacerations and a concussion. He climbed out of wreckage before emergency crews arrived. Transported to Foothills Hospital in critical, but stable condition.
* Patient #3 -- Male, approximately 30; head and chest injuries. He was dazed and walking within the wreckage. Transported to Foothills Hospital in critical, but stable condition.
* Patient #4 -- Male, 25; man sustained facial injuries, a broken clavicle, head injuries and a lacerated left leg. Transported to Foothills Hospital in critical, but stable condition.
* Patient #5 -- Female, 27; sustained head and facial injuries and a broken jaw. Was trapped under the car inside the bank for 45 minutes. Transported to Peter Lougheed hospital in serious, but stable condition.
* Additional four patients were assessed at the scene for minor injuries, but did not require hospitalization.
* Patient #10 -- Male, 68; sustained serious chest injuries. The driver of the car was transported to Peter Lougheed hospital in stable condition.