A 55-year-old man has been charged in a tragic hit-and-run crash that claimed the life of a popular teacher and volunteer firefighter on Vancouver Island.
One count of leaving the scene of an accident was approved Thursday against Timothy David Prad.
The accused was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court again in January.
The victim, 48-year-old Paul Bally, was cycling near Fanny Bay on Monday night when he was struck by a truck and left for dead.
After he failed to return home after his ride, his wife Evelyn went looking and found him in a ditch, covered in mud and unresponsive.
He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Evelyn made a heart-wrenching plea on Wednesday for the driver responsible to come forward, saying her husband may still be alive if the person had stopped to help.
“One thing Paul believed in is if you played by the rules, nobody got hurt. So someone was not playing by the rules, and now he’s hurt,” she said.
Mounties arrested a suspect around 8 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a tip from the public.
Comox Valley RCMP officers went to an area property and found a 2003 Ford F350 truck matching the suspect vehicle description. The truck was seized for further examination.
“Our team remains committed to completing a thorough investigation of all the circumstances surrounding this collision, bringing much needed answers to Paul’s grieving family,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Tim said.
A father of two young children, Paul Bally taught middle school French at Lake Trail Middle School for the past 17 years.
“Who will teach my son to be man? Who’s going to walk my daughter down the aisle? Who is going to help me to raise my children? He was my rock. He kept us on our moral path,” Evelyn Bally said.
