Charges laid in fatal head-on crash that killed 2 people in Chetwynd, B.C.: police

Police say a Fort St. John man faces numerous charges following a 17-month investigation into a fatal highway crash that killed two people in northeast B.C.

Jaden Christopher Cardinal, 21, is charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing death, B.C. Highway Patrol announced Friday.

A 19-year-old man from Dawson Creek and a 15-year-old boy from Chetwynd were killed on April 7, 2024, when two vehicles crashed head-on at the top of a hill on Highway 97 outside of Chetwynd just after midnight.

Chetwynd is located about 210 kilometres northeast of Prince George.

Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with the B.C. Highway Patrol described the crash as “horrific” and said the two victims were killed immediately on impact.

“Anytime you have a collision where two people, two young people in particular, lose their lives, this is going to have a tragic impact,” he said. “On a smaller community, the impact is so much worse. Everybody knows or was associated somehow to the people who died.”

At the time, police said a third person also suffered life-threatening injuries in the collision.

McLaughlin said it’s not unusual for investigations like these to take more than a year.

“This was a long investigation, obviously a real tragedy,” said McLaughlin. “We had to give this investigation the respect that it deserved.”

The B.C. Prosecution Service approved charges against Cardinal in September, according to B.C. Highway Patrol.

The charges have not yet been tested in court. Police say Cardinal will make his next appearance on Jan. 27.

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