Part one of a series on how the tragic death of four-year-old Alexa Middelaer changed the culture of drinking and driving in B.C.
Three people a week.
Moms, dads, kids.
Killed by drunk drivers in B.C. in the mid-2000s, with no sign of it ever changing.
Retired RCMP Insp. Ted Emanuels says it matter of factly, sitting in the Langley office of the province91裸聊视频檚 traffic division.
Trying to prosecute those drivers under the province91裸聊视频檚 outdated criminal system was one of his biggest challenges, the biggest frustrations of his career at that time.
91裸聊视频淚t took a police officer 40 hours to get through one criminal impaired-driving charge,91裸聊视频� Emanuels says. Without that, there was no way to get a driver off the road for any longer than a day.
And there were so, so many drunk drivers.
91裸聊视频淚t was a societal norm. It was so normal to drink and drive that even police officers drank and drove,91裸聊视频� Emanuels says. 91裸聊视频淧eople thought, if you drank and drove and never killed anybody, where was the victim? If you got away with it, what was the harm?91裸聊视频�
Then came the tragic death of a little girl.
| Laurel Middelaer holds a photo of her daughter Alexa.(Katya Slepian/Black Press) |
Laurel Middelaer takes a deep breath, 10 years later, as she begins to once again tell the story of how her daughter was killed.
91裸聊视频淚t really was a perfect day with Alexa,91裸聊视频� Middelaer says.
The words tumble out of her mouth almost mechanically as Middelaer sits calmly on the patio of her South Surrey home.
It was May 17, 2008, the first day of the Victoria Day long weekend. It was a beautiful spring morning in Ladner. She and Alexa had gone swimming in the family91裸聊视频檚 pool.
The little girl had wanted to show off her favourite horse to her aunt Daphne, an equestrian herself, and her beloved grandparents, who had just arrived from Alberta.
91裸聊视频淪he loved this horse that was just about 200 metres away from where we lived. It was a very gentle horse and it would just let Alexa hang on its neck,91裸聊视频� Middelaer says.
91裸聊视频淸Alexa] said they should all go to the tack shop and get special horse cookies. Alexa had a little purple basket that she wanted to take and put the horse cookies in.91裸聊视频�
So, Alexa, her grandparents and her aunt headed to the tack store, got some horse cookies and happily went off to spoil the horse.
Middelaer pauses, her voice fading as she recalls what happened next.
She was at home with her son, Christian, then seven, when she heard loud sirens and saw a helicopter overhead.
91裸聊视频淚 said, 91裸聊视频楲et91裸聊视频檚 get on our bikes and see what91裸聊视频檚 going on, because there91裸聊视频檚 something really, really horrific that91裸聊视频檚 happened.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
| The scene of the Ladner crash that took Alexa Middelaer's life in 2008. (Black Press Media files) |
The pair didn91裸聊视频檛 make it out the door before they got the call.
The police officer had barely told her there had been a terrible crash before she knew.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 Alexa and I know she91裸聊视频檚 dead,91裸聊视频� Middelaer told her husband, with the police officer still on the phone.
The family rushed to the scene, Middelaer91裸聊视频檚 instinct driving her to look for a girl with a head of wild white-blonde curls and that little purple basket.
She found her, a little body surrounded by first responders and a jumble of smashed-up fence, severely injured.
91裸聊视频淚 couldn91裸聊视频檛 hold her, but I could touch her ankle.91裸聊视频�
Alexa was rushed away to BC Children91裸聊视频檚 Hospital in critical condition. She died shortly after.
Because the family had lived so close, they had arrived at the crash site before it could be cleaned up.
It was a hard one to see, but watching the first responders do everything in their power to keep Alexa alive has left no uncertainty, no 91裸聊视频渨hat ifs91裸聊视频� for Middelaer to agonize over.
91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 like to relive the scene in my mind, but I don91裸聊视频檛 have any unanswered questions.91裸聊视频�
As the days and hours went by, details emerged about what had happened.
Just as Alexa had been getting ready to feed her favourite horse, Carol Berner, then 58, had been having a few glasses of wine at her Ladner home.
As Alexa was petting the horse, Berner got into her car and started driving.
Her red car hit a speed bump before careening into the four-year-old girl and her family, just as Alexa was feeding the horse.
Two year later, causing death and bodily harm and two counts of impaired driving causing death and bodily harm. She served .
| Carole Berner served 18 months for the crash that killed four-year-old Alexa Middelaer. (Black Press Media files) |
The to Middelaer.
The autumn after the crash, she met with Emanuels, who was at the time in charge of the police91裸聊视频檚 Lower Mainland traffic division, and other traffic police.
Emanuels asked the family if they would make their daughter the face of a new campaign to crack down on drunk drivers.
All but numb from pain, Middelaer resolved to make her daughter91裸聊视频檚 death count.
91裸聊视频淲e felt like if we could channel it into an area that could bring change, that it would be a viable thing to do.91裸聊视频�
And so Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team was born.
What started as a team of just 26 officers in the Lower Mainland, focusing specifically on getting impaired drivers off the road, has grown into a group of more than 2,400 from all corners of the province, from the RCMP and municipal detachments alike.
- An officer is brought onto the team after catching 12 impaired drivers in one year.
It91裸聊视频檚 represented a complete 180 in the day police treated impaired drivers.
91裸聊视频淧olicing is a balance of priorities and competing interests and, in the 2000s, we had all the gang killings in the Lower Mainland and the Surrey Six,91裸聊视频� says Emanuels.
91裸聊视频淵ou had 15 or 20 people being killed by gangs and there we were throwing all those resources at it.91裸聊视频�
- But drunk driving, which at that time killed more than 150 people every year, got only the remnants of police attention.
Middelaer has been involved in Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team since day one. Every year, she tells the story of Alexa91裸聊视频檚 death during an initiation ceremony for new members.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 been hard. I relive the May long weekend every year,91裸聊视频� she says.
Each officer gets an Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team ball cap, a certificate and a handwritten note from Middelaer, explaining how much their service means to the family.
| Laurel Middelaer welcomes a police officer to Alexa's Team. (Black Press Media files) |
Both Emanuels and Middelaer think that little bit of recognition 91裸聊视频� which cost the RCMP $20 per officer and an afternoon off work 91裸聊视频� has made all the difference.
91裸聊视频淭his team went back to their units and they put their ball caps up in their work stations, they put their certificates up on the wall. We91裸聊视频檝e got members that carry that note with Alexa91裸聊视频檚 picture with them every day when they go to work,91裸聊视频� says Emanuels.
91裸聊视频淚t compelled people because they want that little bit of recognition, they wanted to be part of that team.91裸聊视频�
In the decade following Alexa91裸聊视频檚 death, the .
Emanuels attributes that to Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team, as well as the pressure Alexa91裸聊视频檚 death put on the province.
In 2010, B.C. brought in immediate roadside prohibitions. Any driver caught with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 per cent now faces an immediate, 90-day driving ban and a $500 fine, with a 0.05 per cent blood alcohol level netting a shorter driving ban and smaller fine.
Before 2010, police could only slap drunk drivers with 24-hour driving bans.
Repeat offenders then get an ignition interlock device, which tests a driver91裸聊视频檚 breath for alcohol every time they turn the key in the ignition, as well as a rehabilitation course.
Between 2010 and 2016, the last year for which figures are available, the province estimates that 351 lives have been saved by pulling impaired drivers off the road.
And since 2010, officers have handed out more than 86,000 impaired driving sanctions.
But that doesn91裸聊视频檛 mean that the job is done. Many people out there are still driving drunk.
91裸聊视频淲ith all the gains we91裸聊视频檝e had, the education, the public awareness91裸聊视频� they91裸聊视频檙e still picking up lots of impaired drivers,91裸聊视频� says Emanuels.
But for the Middelaers, it91裸聊视频檚 time to take a step back as Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team wraps up its 10th year.
91裸聊视频淔or us as a family, this marks a natural closing point,91裸聊视频� Middelaer says.
| Laurel Middelaer, here with her husband Michael, struggles to hold back tears during an Alexa's Team ceremony. (Black Press Media files) |
Every life saved helps Middelaer cope and makes the family feel like they91裸聊视频檝e had an impact. The memory of that fiery little girl lives on through a team of police officers who embody her spirit.
91裸聊视频淎lexa was a really feisty, strong, driven, spunky little girl, but she was really loving,91裸聊视频� says Middelaer.
91裸聊视频淚 think the [team of] police officers, that91裸聊视频檚 a nice match for her. She had a beautiful innocence but also a real fire.91裸聊视频�
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