No criminal charges in crash that killed municipal worker near Victoria

Steve Seekins is pictured. (District of Oak Bay)

An elderly woman who struck and killed a 52-year-old father who was working in a construction zone near Victoria last year will not face criminal charges in the case, authorities announced Thursday.

Oak Bay municipal employee Steve Seekins died instantly when a black SUV veered off the road and struck him while he and his work crew were inspecting a storm sewer next to Bowker Creek Park on Monterey Avenue around 8 a.m. on May 17, 2023.

Witnesses told CTV News they saw the vehicle speeding down the street that morning, weaving into oncoming traffic and narrowly missing a child on a bicycle just moments before the fatal collision.

Mark Fischer, then chief of the Oak Bay Police Department, said at the time that investigators had "evidence of erratic driving," confirming the SUV was "travelling at a high rate of speed" and "crossed both lanes of traffic" before fatally striking the father of two young children.

The SUV continued through the park before buckling around a large tree. The driver, who has not been identified publicly, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Oak Bay Police Department said in a statement Thursday that the driver "suffered a medical episode" and therefore the B.C. prosecution service decided not to approve criminal charges in the case.

"Mr. Seekins's family have been notified of the decision," Oak Bay police Chief Julie Chanin said in the statement. "Our thoughts are with Mr. Seekins's wife, their two young children and extended family."

Seekins grew up in Alberta and his life was altered early on by an automobile crash in which his mother was killed and he was severely injured, according to an obituary published by the Bear Creek Funeral Home.

In the summer of 2022, Seekins accepted a job with Mitchell Excavating in Victoria before joining Oak Bay's public works department just months before the fatal crash.