A young woman injured in a car crash which she believes was intentional is challenging a police decision not to file criminal charges against the other driver.
Alisha Allies was a passenger in her mother’s car driving along Eckhardt Avenue late Wednesday morning when they were hit from behind by the other vehicle.
The force of the collision sent their car off the road through a fence and onto the lawn of a home on the north side of the street where it came to rest.
“I was in the front seat and I had my seat-belt on and it threw me forward and whipped my head back, I was really scared,” Allies said after being released from Penticton Regional Hospital where she was treated for a soft tissue injury to her neck. “That’s a pretty serious thing, to run into somebody’s car, somebody could have died.
“This is assault with a weapon and the cops are doing nothing about it.”
After the collision the female driver of the Ford Explorer that hit the Allies’ vehicle left the scene and Alisha was able to reach her cellphone and called 911 to report the incident.
She also recognized the man and woman in the Ford as people she had had previous run-ins with.
“But even if we do know each other, I don’t understand how they (police) can legally not charge her,” said Alisha.
Sgt. Rick Dellebuur of the Penticton RCMP indicated the initial call was for a hit and run, but the offending vehicle turned up at the detachment shortly afterwards
“The person in the Ford, realizing who they (Allies) are and because of the bad blood, didn’t stop because they were worried about what would happen,” said Dellebuur. “All of these individuals are well known to us and the one reliable witness said it was just a rear-end accident and there was no indication they deliberately ran at them.
“We can’t determine who’s at fault and certainly there is no criminal offence here.”
However, Thursday afternoon Alisha indicated she still intends to follow through with the police complaint process.