Mothers of teenagers killed in 2023 crash in Hants County react to accusations

The mothers of two teenagers killed in a 2023 crash on a rural road near Windsor, N.S., are welcoming charges against the alleged driver of the vehicle after an agonizing 15-month wait as the RCMP investigation drags on.

Police said Wednesday they have charged Drake Robert Brown, 22, with 10 felonies related to the crash on Aug. 24, 2023; These include two counts of criminal negligence causing death, two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing death. .

20-year-old Brayden Lemmon and 20-year-old Victoria Cousins, who were in the vehicle, died in the accident. Another passenger was injured but survived, police said. Brown was also injured.

“A lot of things are going through my mind,” Victoria’s mother, Tracy O’Handley, said in an interview. “I’m relieved to know that someone is finally being held responsible for what happened to Victoria and Brayden. Fifteen months is a long time.”

Brown is accused in court records of being impaired by alcohol and drugs and driving a vehicle that police said was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo at excessive speed when it collided with a Ford F-150 on the highway around 10:50 p.m. 14 in Windsor Forks, NS

Police said in a news release that Brown was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he gave police blood samples that were later analyzed for alcohol.

The accusations are both comforting and bittersweet for Brayden’s mother, Kyla Loane. He said Brown and his son were friends and that Brown attended the celebration of life service held after Brayden’s death.

“It was a very difficult, long week,” he said.

Brayden has a twin brother and two sisters and enjoys working at Ski Martock, his mother said. Victoria was the leader of Girl Guides and had been working at the Tim Hortons on Water Street in Windsor, N.S., for five years at the time of her death, her mother said.

“This will never end,” O’Handley said. “My daughter will never get married, my daughter will never make me a grandmother, my daughter will never go to college, and she will never hug me or tell me she loves me again.”

Identity of the alleged driver

Both mothers said they believed it took too long for the charges to be accepted because police were trying to prove who was behind the wheel. O’Handley said he didn’t know for certain until last Friday that the alleged driver was Brown and not the other surviving man.

“My heart feels for the passenger because he too has been looked at as a possible suspect for the last 15 months,” O’Handley said.

“So he’s been living in a town where people have probably stayed away from him for the last 15 months, and I’m upset about that.”

Loane said it was especially difficult for her to hear comments from some people who said her son chose to ride in a vehicle driven by someone with a disability.

“This is unfair,” he said. He said it may not be obvious when someone is affected by drugs, and Brown appeared sober when he came to pick up his son that night.

“A lot of people have been commenting to me about this and it really upsets me – ‘Your son made that choice to get in that car,’” she said. “He didn’t choose to die.”

Brown was arrested on November 8 and charged in the crash. He appeared in provincial court in Windsor on Tuesday and was released on bail. He is scheduled to return to court on December 10.