B.C. Ethiopian community leader hopes for healing after crash charges laid
Posted July 11, 2023 7:25 pm.
Last Updated July 11, 2023 8:19 pm.
An Ethiopian community leader is hoping for healing after a man was charged in relation to the death of two young Ethiopian men in a car crash on the Burnaby-New Westminster border last year.
Investigators announced on Tuesday, July 7, 2023, that Cory Robert Ulmer Brown has been charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death, flight from police, and driving while disqualified.
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Charges laid in 2022 Burnaby crash that left 2 teens dead
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Two dead after New Westminster traffic stop leads to crash
The Metro Vancouver Transit Police says on July 26, 2022, officers were headed back to New Westminster just after 11 p.m. when they tried to pull over a vehicle that was “being driven erratically.”
The vehicle didn’t stop for police and hit another car, critically injuring 18-year-old Samir Suleiman and 17-year-old Yabsrat Ytatek in the process. Both teens later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
Ethiopian Affairs in BC founder Moges Seblehiwot says he’s hopeful these charges begin to bring the families closure. As he explains, the Ethiopian community was devastated by the incident.
“If … charges are laid down, that’s a great thing. That will help the healing process, I believe,” he said. “These kids were just very dynamic, dynamic kids, both of them.”
“It’s a big loss for the community and the family. It’s a very big loss so we can’t reverse it, we need justice.”
Seblehiwot adds that Suleiman and Ytatek were young leaders in the Lower Mainland’s Ethiopian community.
The MVTP says Brown is currently in custody on unrelated charges. It notes he was placed on a 24-hour house arrest after the 2022 incident. He’s previously been charged with dangerous driving offences on at least three occasions.
Brown is due back in court on July 19.
With files from Hana Mae Nassar
