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<\/p>\nRCMP say a Prince George, B.C., man is facing numerous charges in a hit-and-run that left one cyclist dead and another injured last July.<\/p>\n
The police service says Thomas Leslie Phillips has been charged with impaired operation of a vehicle causing death and impaired operation causing bodily harm, as well as failing to remain at the scene of the accident and dangerous operation of a vehicle.<\/p>\n
The charges stem from July 7 when two cyclists were training for the Cops for Cancer charity bike ride in the north-central B.C. city.<\/p>\n
Shane Kelly, an active member of the cycling community, was killed, while the RCMP officer he was riding with was taken to hospital with serious injuries.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Remembering Shane Kelly:<\/p>\n
Prince George cycling community remembers fallen cyclist<\/p>\n
Family, friends, and the Prince George cycling community gathered for a special group bike ride Sunday to honour a cyclist killed in a hit and run while training for a fundraising ride. As Hanna Petersen reports, a special police escort led his team members as they gathered for their first group ride without him.<\/p>\n
RCMP say the pair were riding on the side of the road when they were struck by the driver of a black Ram 1500 truck, who fled the scene, leaving parts of his vehicle behind.<\/p>\n
Cyclists fear for safety<\/p>\n
A police chase including a helicopter followed the highly public incident, with witnesses describing debris and broken bike parts left on the side of the road.<\/p>\n
It had a chilling effect on the local cycling community, with members expressing their fear about riding on roads. Prince George has a lack of dedicated cycling infrastructure, including even painted-on bike lanes in many areas.<\/p>\n
“A lot of people were afraid to go back on their bikes, myself included,” said Karin Piche, Kelly’s friend and captain of the Wheelin’ Warriors bicycle team in Prince George.<\/p>\n
She said she still hasn’t been on her bike since Kelly’s death, and she knows others who are in the same boat.<\/p>\n
She expressed some relief that charges had been laid and the driver may be held accountable, but was uncertain if it would bring closure to the community.<\/p>\n
“You can’t take away from the fact that Shane’s no longer with us,” she said. “It’s going to take a while.”<\/p>\n
Ron Gallo, another rider with the Cops for Cancer fundraiser, said the charges had “reopened some old wounds,” while also hoping it would result in safer streets.<\/p>\n
He said Kelly was a “great man” who helped raise thousands for charity. Following his death, nearly $100,000 was donated to Kelly’s Cops for Cancer page, with funds going toward supporting children and families.<\/p>\n
RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said the case had deeply impacted the city of Prince George, as well as the local RCMP detachment as Kelly had been riding for a police fundraiser when he was killed.<\/p>\n
“Our investigators have worked very hard to bring this investigation to the charge-approval stage,” she said in a release.<\/p>\n
Phillips’ next court appearance is set for Dec. 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RCMP say a Prince George, B.C., man is facing numerous charges in a hit-and-run that left one cyclist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-201817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}