'Why didn't he have a helmet on?' Cab driver shaken by deadly crash at Humber Valley Resort
A west coast taxi driver who came across the scene of a deadly crash Sunday between another taxi and a snowmobile says the two men on the snowmobile were lightly dressed and not wearing helmets.
The head-on collision happened about 4 a.m., killing 21-year old Justyn Pollard of St. John's, who police said was driving the snowmobile, and injuring two other people.
- Snowmobiler, 21, dead after crash with minivan in Humber Valley'
Joe Vokey spotted the mangled van after he had dropped off his own customers at the resort and was about to drive across the bridge to get back on the Trans-Canada Highway.
"The windshield was beat out. The hood was damaged. The light was out. The tire was punctured. When I looked to the right of my taxi, there was a Ski-Doo," said Vokey, who got there before emergency crews.
Vokey said both the driver and the passenger of the snowmobile were on the ground, the driver unresponsive and the passenger moving around.
"He kept trying to get up. He was knocked out and kept trying to get up and the people were telling him to stay down until help could come," he said.
Pollard died from his injuries Sunday at noon at Western Memorial Regional hospital in Corner Brook.
Police said a 26-year-old man who was a passenger on the snowmobile, and one person from the taxi, a Birchy Cab van, were also sent to hospital with injuries.
Vokey said the collision happened at the beginning of the bridge when the van was attempting to enter the resort.
When he approached the scene, he heard the van driver say 'Where the f--- did he [the snowmobiler] come from?'
No helmets
Vokey said the van was pushed up against the bridge railing, so close to the rail, four unharmed passengers had to climb out on the opposite side.
What surprised him most was how the pair on the snowmobile were dressed.
"No helmet to be seen, no gloves, no suit, nothing. They were in jeans and a sweat shirt. That's what blew me out of the water, especially on a big machine like that. It was a brand new machine. Why didn't he have helmet on? If he did have one on it would have been a different outcome," Vokey said.
Once he knew help was on the way, he helped move the snowmobile to the side of the bridge and headed back to Corner Brook.
"I was shaken. When I got home and situated, I called RCMP in here. They came at 5 o'clock and I gave a statement. I was that tired and shook up … I couldn't do nothing. There was nothing I could do," Vokey said.
Friends and family of Justyn Pollard told CBC News he was on the west coast for a snowboarding trip to Marble Mountain.
RCMP told CBC the investigation into what happened is still in its early stages, but snowmobiling is not allowed on the bridge to Humber Valley Resort.
It's not clear if alcohol played a role in the collision.
