The man accused in a tragic hit-and-run that killed Port Coquitlam teenager Annie Leung last year says he remembers what happened in detail.
CTV News tracked down 73-year-old Irwin Richard Franz Thursday afternoon, shortly after the RCMP announced he’s been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a fatal accident.
“I just panicked. I wasn’t thinking straight. As soon as I got my mind sorted out, I got a lawyer and got him going to the police,” Franz said.
According to Franz, the 16-year-old victim, a Grade 10 student at Riverside Secondary School, was crossing against the light when she was struck on Sept. 10, 2013.
Leung was rushed to hospital but died of her injuries the next day.
Asked whether he should have stayed at the scene, Franz said there were “too many people there.”
“There was a lady [with] her in her arms and there was two or three other people. And I heard the siren coming, the ambulance, and there’s nothing I could do anyway,” he said.
Franz, who said he ended up in the psychiatric ward in hospital after the accident, told CTV News he has cooperated with police and intends to plead not-guilty.
“I’m not admitting it was my fault ‘cause I know for a fact it wasn’t the accident itself,” he said.
“It’s bloody horrible. I’m saying it wasn’t my fault, but it’s horrible.”
The RCMP has described its investigation into the crash as challenging, noting the lack of suspect information available at the outset.
Leung’s parents Maggie and Ricky Leung held a tearful press conference one month after the accident pleading for tips. Cpl. Jamie Chung thanked the public Thursday for responding with more than 100 calls.
“Each and every one of them was followed up by investigators,” he said.
Chung said officers met with the family earlier in the day, and they were relieved to hear charges have finally been laid.
“They are not happy in the sense that they still don’t have a daughter – their daughter is gone, no criminal charge is going to bring her back – but this is going to provide some closure,” Chung said.
Mounties managed to find surveillance video taken just a few doors down from the crash showing a man parking a black truck, running back toward the scene, then driving away, but the quality was low and the licence plate was illegible.
The RCMP said the truck was eventually located, impounded and searched.
Franz is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 25. The charge against him, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, has not been proven in court.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Lisa Rossington
