A woman from Port McNeill is hoping for a little justice after her car was destroyed by vandals while she and friends were hiking the Sunshine Coast Trail.
Amanda Kehler-Stevens, 25, was in Powell River to spend time with five girlfriends, walk the trail and celebrate her birthday which was on May 2.
But when they emerged from the trailhead at Dixon Road, near Lang Bay, after spending almost a week on the trail, Kehler-Stevens’ car, a white 1996 Subaru Legacy, was nowhere to be found.
The women found only jagged chucks of broken glass and mirror on the road near where the car had been left.
They contacted Powell River RCMP to report the car stolen and police told them that the car had been recovered and it had sustained significant damage, Kehler-Stevens said.
The group found a ride into town from Lang Bay and went to the police station to find out what had happened.
Police told Kehler-Stevens that the car’s tires had been slashed and it had been pulled to the middle of Dixon Road where vandals ran over the car.
“It appears that someone purposely rammed the parked vehicle pushing it 30 to 40 feet then drove up on the hood and windshield,” said Constable Tim Kenning of the Powell River RCMP in a media release on the incident.
No valuables were taken from inside though, Kehler-Stevens said.
The incident was featured in Powell River RCMP’s weekly CrimeStoppers on Wednesday, May 6. Police are hoping that anyone with information about what may have happened will come forward.
Police believe the vandalism occurred over two nights, April 30 and May 1, Kehler-Stevens said. Police recovered tire tread patterns and paint samples from the crushed hood of the car and are continuing to investigate. They are looking for the driver of a large, possibly blue, raised truck.
In an interview with the Peak, Kehler-Stevens said that she was frustrated with the situation of having her car “run over by some ignorant rednecks,” but the experience has not soured her view of Powell River. She pointed out that the police were sympathetic and helpful, giving her and her friends a ride up to Inland Lake to collect their other car and people in town were eager to help.
The same, however, can not be said for her dealings with the Insurance Corporation of BC (ICBC).
“They are trying to call it a hit and run because a vehicle caused damage to my car, but I clearly see it as vandalism because I see it was done with malicious intent,” Kehler-Stevens added. “They did it on purpose—it wasn’t an accident.”
She has filed a claim for the damage to her car, but ICBC is only offering her one-third the value of the vehicle, she said, adding that her auto insurance covers vandalism and theft, but not collision.
“I just hope that they catch the person who did this so they don’t continue to do things like this to others,” she said.
