A 22-year-old woman suffered a medical emergency after being struck by a beer can from a passing pickup truck after the Nickelback concert at Laketown Amphitheatre on Aug. 9.
The woman and three friends were walking along Youbou Road near Meades Creek Road at approximately 11:46 p.m. when the incident occurred.
Riley Smith, one the injured woman鈥檚 friends who was walking along the highway with her, said a black pickup truck that was travelling quickly along the highway approached the group and she saw an arm hanging out of its window holding on to a partially consumed can of beer. She said the can was thrown at her friend with such force it was crushed when it impacted her stomach area.
鈥淢y friend has a heart condition and just underwent open-heart surgery three months ago,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淪he couldn鈥檛 control her breathing (after being hit by the can) and it began to get worse and worse and she lost her ability to breathe. We realized that this was a very serious situation and we needed to call 911.鈥�
Smith said by the time an ambulance arrived, her friend was in and out of consciousness. She and her other friends had performed CPR on her until the paramedics took over.
She said once the paramedics had her friend stabilized, she was placed in the ambulance and taken to the hospital.
Smith said her friend has since been released from the hospital and is now at home convalescing.
"We have no idea why (this happened)," Smith said. "It was totally unprovoked; a random act. I believe it would of happened to the next group of people walking behind us if it wasn鈥檛 done to us."
Police said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Anyone with any information who has yet to speak with police, or who might have CCTV or dashcam video of the incident, is urged to contact the Lake Cowichan RCMP at 250-749-6668.
