BURSTJust days after her 21st birthday, Stacey Reid was run over and killed by a boom lift at a commercial property in Mission.
Marc White, Reid’s father, is now pushing for accountability. He launched a petition on Oct. 14 to bolster protections against heavy machinery for unhoused individuals.
“Safety was completely thrown out of the window … There’s no way this isn’t negligence by absolutely any means. That’s why I started the petition … homeless people are out there. They’re everywhere. Canada is extremely expensive – and not every one of them is out there because they can’t afford the housing; some choose to be there. But they are there. And anybody in construction needs to be mindful if you’re operating heavy machinery,” White said.
Reid ended up on the street shortly before her 16th birthday and drug use quickly became an issue. For the past three years, Reid stayed in both Mission and Abbotsford.
Her parents fought to get her help and stayed in contact over the years. White, who lives in Maple Ridge, was first informed of his daughter’s death on Sept. 29.
“We just assumed because of her lifestyle that maybe she had overdosed,” White said.
The following day (Sept. 30), White was called by the constable who was on the scene. White says the officer told him it was a “freak accident” and was angered by their demeanour.
According to White, his daughter’s death wasn’t a freak accident, but negligence. He said the boom lift operator had a spotter, and yet a life was lost.
“This tragic event highlights a significant oversight in the safety protocols that govern the operation of heavy machinery in areas where our most vulnerable citizens reside,” he wrote in his petition.
If family wasn’t involved in Reid’s life, White says her death wouldn’t have been news.
“It seems to be that the police just don’t care. We don’t know how often this kind of thing happens because it doesn’t get publicized. And that’s part of the problem,” White said.
Mission RCMP said it reviewed the circumstances surrounding the incident in consultation with specialized investigative units.
“Based on that review, investigators concluded that the circumstances do not meet the threshold to recommend criminal charges,” RCMP said.
The BC Coroners Service is now overseeing the investigation. The Coroners Service said it is unable to share any other details at this time because it is an open, active investigation.
Meanwhile, WorkSafeBC said it has a role within its mandate to examine the circumstances of the incident and the work activities involved.
“WorkSafeBC has launched an investigation into the incident. WorkSafeBC’s investigation is separate from any reviews or investigations undertaken by the employer, police, or other authorities, each of which has its own responsibilities and mandate,” WorkSafeBC said in a statement to the Mission Record.
The purpose of the investigation is to independently determine the cause and contributing factors – including relevant occupational health and safety considerations – to prevent future incidents at workplaces in the province, WorkSafeBC said.
“We cannot comment on specific evidence, findings, or potential enforcement outcomes while the investigation is underway,” the statement reads.
White says his daughter was on a public right of way, not private property, at the time of her death.
The family have made multiple trips to the scene and received photos from the community showing the aftermath of the incident. White said Reid was wrapped in a bright red sleeping bag at the time of her death, with a blanket spread out like a bed and a piece of cardboard sticking out underneath.
He said there’s no excuse for the incident and that the workplace should have had pylons, fences, and other safety measures.
“I work in construction. I work with machinery … hazard assessments are supposed to be done, safety checks, walks around the machine. You’re not supposed to just operate arbitrarily. There should have been pylons at least posted. There’s so many things,” White said.
The petition argues that current laws around the operation of heavy machinery aren’t stringent enough, particularly in areas frequented by unhoused individuals.
The petition’s proposed “Stacey’s Law” would mandate heavy machinery operators to visually clear their path and physically verify that blankets, sleeping bags, or piles of debris are not occupied before operations commence or proceed. It would also prohibit driving over or crushing any setup, structure, or accumulated material that could serve as or conceal a temporary shelter, without prior human verification.
Under “Stacey’s Law”, a failure to perform the checks or to yield to a person would constitute automatic grounds for criminal negligence and strict regulatory liability for operators, spotters, supervisors and corporations.
“Our governments have a responsibility to protect all their citizens, regardless of economic status. Establishing and enforcing Stacey’s Law will ensure accountability and help prevent further preventable tragedies like Stacey’s. I urge you to join me in calling for justice for Stacey and others like her, who deserve to be protected and respected,” the petition reads.
As of Tuesday (Oct. 20), the petition has over 900 signatures.
White described his daughter as a bright and vibrant person. Reid was born with an intellectual disability, and her father said she faced challenges she could not always understand.
“We had gotten her into treatment and she came out healthy and good. But she went straight back to the streets … we had tried to get the police to do something, the courts to do something because she had committed crimes and most people that commit these crimes would go to jail … but because of her social issue they sentenced her to probation without conditions. So really, not anything helping her,” he said.