A Surrey firefighter is lucky to be alive after being hit by a vehicle while walking home on his street in Surrey, B.C.’s East Clayton North neighbourhood on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
The longtime area resident and Vancouver firefighter was walking home from his neighbour’s house with his wife, 17-year-old son and their dog along 74 Avenue just before 192 Street around 4:55 p.m. on Sunday.
While his wife was walking on the grass on the other side of the ditch, he was on the narrow gravel shoulder. He was just steps from his driveway when he was hit from behind by a grey pickup truck, sending him tumbling into the waterlogged ditch.
“I heard a vehicle coming up behind me and I could hear the vehicle on the side of the shoulder and you hear the gravel hitting so I knew it was going to be close,” he said.
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“I was in the process of turning around and the next thing I knew I could see gravel, grass and water and I could feel the impact.”
Quennell says the water in the ditch startled him and woke him up. He then stood up, walked out of the ditch and collapsed on the side of the road.
Surveillance video caught the whole incident and the truck does not appear to slow down.
Surrey RCMP are searching for a grey, two-door pickup truck with a black box liner and silver wheels. The truck is believed to have damage to its front passenger side.
Quennell came away from the incident with only minor injuries, but his family has experienced the deadly nature of local roads before.
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In December 2019, his mother-in-law was getting her mail from the community mailbox and was using a crosswalk at 192 Street and 80 Avenue when she was struck and killed by a vehicle that was turning left. That driver remained at the scene.
Quennell says he is upset he feels he cannot walk in front of his own home without risking being hit by a vehicle. He says traffic has become worse in the area over the past 20 years he has lived there.
He says he and his wife, Liana, have spoken with the city several times about the need to slow vehicles down or to create a path for people to walk on, particularly children from the nearby Regen Road Elementary School.
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“We see kids walk by our house every day and it just makes me cringe every time I see it, knowing they are on the road and the way traffic is today,” he said, adding the lack of shoulders or pathways, coupled with drivers using the streets as shortcuts is a “recipe for disaster.”
Liana says she complained about safety to the city several times before her mother’s death but feels little was done to address the issue.
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“So essentially since that happened to my mom, I’ve felt helpless,” she said through tears. “Now, my husband has been hit by a car in front of me.”
Surrey Coun. Linda Annis called the video “shocking” and says more needs to be done to increase safety in the area.
“I’m not exactly sure what that looks like, but staff who have a lot of experience in this need to visit this area and figure out a plan,” she said.
Anyone who may have witnessed the April 21 incident or has dash camera footage of the incident is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 and quote file number 2024-55986.
