Two Calgary men in their early 20s, identified as Nathan Wack and Jordan Fish, were killed in a single vehicle collision that took place near TransAlta Road (near Richards Road, north of the community of Benchlands, north of Hwy 40).
Cochrane RCMP was dispatched to the collision around 4:43 a.m. Jan. 4. The two young men, who were travelling in the bed of a pickup truck, were pronounced dead on scene.
The driver was transported to a hospital in Calgary by STARS air ambulance, having sustained significant, non-life threatening injuries to his legs consistent with mild frostbite and hypothermia.
The investigation is still underway. Police have not ruled out speed or alcohol as factors.
It is believed that the driver, identified as 19-year-old Logan Toews of Calgary, lost control of the vehicle that went over a steep embankment near the Ghost River.
“There are aspects of this investigation that will take some time,” said Corp. Troy Savinkoff with the Cochrane detachment, adding that there are a lot of ‘unknown factors’ surrounding this incident.
Savinkoff confirmed the three men were camping in the area nearby and that following the incident, the driver was able to make it out of the vehicle, crawl to the campsite, get into another vehicle and flag down first responders.
He added that it is likely the incident occurred several hours prior to a witness calling it in.
A Morley man, 26-year-old Andrew Holloway, was arrested in Cochrane on the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2014, in connection with an alleged violent sexual assault of a woman that took place Dec. 26 near the Brentwood LRT station in Calgary.
Holloway has been charged with sexual assault, common assault and uttering threats.
Warrants were issued for his arrest, based on LRT surveillance camera footage released just hours prior to his apprehension by local officers.
The alleged violent attack took place around 6:45 p.m. near the Brentwood LRT station, where the assaulted woman claims she was grabbed from behind, dragged into an alley and struck on the head.
The woman was able to escape her attacker and is recovering from minor injuries.
Corp. Savinkoff confirmed that Holloway is known to police for minor, previous disturbances. This is the first incident of such magnitude local authorities have known Holloway to be connected to.
Three people were taken to hospital, following a multi-vehicle collision involving four vehicles near the Ozada Flats overpass, along Hwy 1 Jan. 6.
One person sustained severe, non-life threatening injuries and another reported to have sustained a broken wrist. Charges are pending on the driver of a pickup truck.
Cochrane RCMP officers were dispatched to the scene around 12:23 p.m. It was reported that the driver of a pickup truck passed several smaller vehicles unsafely, causing the other drivers to lose visibility.
One smaller vehicle rear-ended a snowplow, causing the driver to veer into another vehicle in the right-hand lane. The same vehicle then spun around and wound up crossing the meridian, facing oncoming traffic where they were struck by another vehicle head-on.
The driver of this vehicle wound up with severe, non-life threatening injuries and was taken to hospital along with occupants from two of the other three vehicles involved in the collision.
The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.
Corp. Savinkoff said this is a prime example of why people need to adhere to speed limits and adjust their speed to road and weather conditions — which were less than ideal on this day.
