The victim of a car crash that took place Wednesday on the Coquihalla is sharing his side of the story.
Brent Marshall was returning to Kelowna from Vancouver on Wednesday just before 4 p.m. when he crashed his 2015 McLaren 650S. He says the crash occurred due to hydroplaning from the intense rain and that speed was not a factor.
"The rain started coming down so hard and there was a transport truck beside me when I was in the left lane," he said. "Water comes flying off their truck wheels, so one second I couldn't see anything and the next, the car picked up, hydroplaned, slammed into the side of the truck trailer, then into the concrete meridian and over the bank and down the ditch,"
As a race-car driver and owner of multiple supercars, Marshall has lots of experience driving in bad conditions, however he says he's never seen the Coquihalla in that bad a state.
After the crash, multiple witnesses helped Marshall. Because the ambulance was expected to take 30 minutes to reach him, a witness took him to the hospital.
"I was a paramedic for many years so I knew I had to get to a hospital fairly fast in case there was internal injuries," he says.
But despite totalling the vehicle, Marshall walked away unharmed.
His McLaren is one of many vehicles he uses in fundraisers and rallies such as the Okanagan Dream Rally, a fundraiser to benefit the Ronald McDonald House charities.
Marshall says he reached out to Castanet to set the record straight after a number of negative comments were made on social media following Castanet's first story.
"It was the road conditions. It's too bad how many people jump to conclusions. I'm very fortunate for how many people in the community reached out to make sure I was okay," he says.
Marshall hopes this story will warn others about the dangers of driving the Coquihalla when it's heavily raining.
