(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

'I did not want anybody dead'

Calgary mother, daughter dealing with trauma of May crash near Red Deer

Nov 22, 2021 | 3:26 PM

*This story contains medical images which some may find distressing

A mother and daughter from Calgary are suffering six months after a near-deadly crash on the QEII Highway near Red Deer.

At about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 9, three vehicles were involved in a traumatic crash, southbound and just south of the McKenzie Road exit. It was originally reported as a four-vehicle collision.

The RCMP’s preliminary investigation determined one truck was being followed by another truck going northbound in the southbound lanes.

The truck in front – later determined stolen — lost control and collided with a southbound SUV.

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The 59-year-old mother and 26-year-old daughter who were in the SUV were eventually taken to Red Deer Regional Hospital in critical condition.

The truck that hit them was allegedly driven by a 50-year-old male, and also carried two female passengers, 34 and 28-years-old. They too were rushed to hospital.

Dean James Johnstone, who was allegedly driving the front truck, was supposed to appear in Red Deer provincial court for this matter on Oct. 25, but failed to do so. A warrant was issued for his arrest. According to Alberta Justice, he then didn’t appear for a Nov. 1 court date in Didsbury on a separate matter that occurred barely two weeks before an incident near Sundre.

He did, however, appear in a Red Deer courtroom on Nov. 12, for the matter near Red Deer and several others.

In the case of the crash near Red Deer, Johnstone is charged with four counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, and one each for possession of stolen property under $5,000, possession of stolen property over $5,000, operating an uninsured motor vehicle on the highway, and driving a motor vehicle while unauthorized.

“I’m so upset about this whole situation,” says the mother, whose identity rdnewsNOW is protecting by referring to her as Jane.

Just after dusk, Jane and her daughter were headed from Edmonton to Calgary, passing Gasoline Alley.

“I said to my daughter, ‘Are those lights on my side of the highway?’ It was heavy traffic and didn’t make sense. The next moment, the truck was on top of us,” she recalls. “I tried avoiding it, and had to slam on the brakes so hard, but we collided anyway.”

An untellable number of moments later, Jane and her daughter opened their eyes, and they were both crying, she says.

“I thought the car was on fire. Then we realized it was the cloud of stuff that had come out of the air bags. My daughter turned to me and said, ‘We’re alive, we’re alive.’ I started praying, and then the pain set in. My daughter started screaming.”

Paramedics told Jane at the scene they had to extricate people from the other vehicle first, because unlike the mom and daughter, they were unconscious.

She was later told they were in their crashed vehicle for nearly three hours, with EMS checking on them constantly.

First taken to Red Deer Regional, they ended up together at hospital in Calgary.

“She fractured her hip, and now has a plate in there. She’s only 26, is very active, and the doctors say she’ll make a full recovery,” Jane says thankfully.

“I broke my left ankle, had eight broken ribs on my left side, one on my right, and three more displaced on my left. My right wrist was broken and my ulna was sticking out so far. I could see so much blood.”

Jane is right-handed, she adds, meaning day-to-day life has been very tough while waiting for her hand to recover. She also has severed tendons in her thumb.

Pictures posted by Jane on Instagram, of injuries sustained to one of her arms in the May 9, 2021 crash. (Supplied)

Jane also owns two businesses in Calgary, and that’s been a challenge to be fully engaged in.

“When I talked to the police or EMS in Red Deer that night, I said ‘Please tell me the other people are alive. I did not want anybody dead. So I’m very thankful they are all alive,” says Jane.

“But I would really like this person to go to jail, and maybe while they’re in there, they’d have time to reflect on their life. I believe this person has children. Perhaps he may get to know the Lord, then get out of jail and serve people with love. That’s what I want to say to him.”

According to Alberta Justice, Johnstone has multiple other court files, including for an incident near Sundre last April, a case he failed to show up for on Nov. 1. In that incident, police caught a man allegedly breaking into a building near some rural lease sites at 2 a.m.

Johnstone is also facing a breach of probation charge which Alberta Justice says allegedly occurred from Aug. 30-Oct. 12, 2021.

Finally, Johnstone was arrested on Nov. 3 near Springbrook, Alberta, where he is alleged to have been involved in a break and enter at 2450 37 Avenue — the address of Montair Aviation.

On all these charges, Johnstone remains in custody and is scheduled to appear before a judge in Red Deer on Nov. 26. None of the charges have been proven in court.

In spring 2010, Johnstone was sentenced to 18 months in prison after two police pursuits which traversed farmers’ fields and rural roads around central Alberta.