A Burnaby man will go to trial next year to face charges in connection with a crash that killed a young New Westminster woman in June 2018 on Highway 17A in Ladner.
Following an arraignment hearing in Surrey provincial court on Jan. 28, 44-year-old Chao Chen, the driver allegedly responsible for killing 19-year-old Olivia Malcom, had his trial date set for Feb. 8, 2021.
Chen has been charged with impaired driving causing death and impaired driving over 80 (milligrams of alcohol) causing death in relation to the crash.
Chen was taken into custody in August 2019 and subsequently brought before a Justice of the Peace whereupon he was released on a number of conditions including: must not occupy the driver’s seat of any motor vehicle; not to be found in public in a state of intoxication; must surrender all passports and travel documents or authorizations; and must remain in the Province of British Columbia.
Malcom and her 20-year-old friend were standing behind their vehicle which was parked off the shoulder of Highway 17A in Delta when they were hit from behind by a Jeep. Malcom died at the scene.
She was remembered as a prominent member of the New Westminster lacrosse community and an online funding campaign in the months after her death raised more than $100,000 for a bursary to support post-secondary education.
Last summer, a memorial bench in honour of Malcom was unveiled outside New Westminster’s Queen's Park Arena, a place Olivia knew well from her many years of playing and watching lacrosse games. The bench features a plaque and the OM emblem on the sides.
-with files from the Delta Optimist
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