A former Squamish man is set to receive a medal of bravery from Canada's governor general for the role he played in the rescue of two people from a burning vehicle after a crash that occurred near Williams Lake in 2007.
On Oct. 13, 2007, Kevin Leski, Kingsley Cheung and Justin Ilnicki were driving along Highway 20 near Raven Lake, B.C., returning from a hunting trip, when they came upon a crash that involved a car and a pick-up truck that was towing a camper, according to the Williams Lake Tribune.
Leski, Cheung and Ilnicki are among 58 people who will be recognized by the Right Hon. David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa next Friday (Oct. 28). The three are each to receive the Medal of Bravery, an honour created in 1972 to recognize people who risk their lives to save or protect the lives of others.
The five occupants of the car died in the 2007 crash. However, when the three men came upon the crash in their own vehicle, the pick-up truck was on fire and the two occupants, Betty-Lou Kopetski and Hugh Olson of Quesnel, were still trapped inside, the Tribune reported.
Both Kopetski and Olson were injured and the men heard their screams. The three broke the truck's windshield and first pulled Olson, then Kopetski, to safety.
Leski, 35, a 1995 Howe Sound Secondary School graduate who now lives in Langley, told The Chief that when the three came upon the crash, the truck was fully involved in flames and one or more of its tires had already exploded.
"There were a bunch of people standing around and the lady screamed and I was bailing out before the truck even stopped," Leski said. "The pickup truck was on its side and we had to pull the man out through the windshield and pulled the lady out of the passenger-side window."
Leski said the three rescuers have met with the couple they rescued more than once since the incident. The first time they met after the crash, Kopetski recognized his voice right away even though she didn't appear to be conscious in the crash's immediate aftermath.
Leski said he believes it was Kopetski and Olson who nominated the three men for the award.
"We're allowed to bring along a couple people to be with us during the ceremony, and that's who we're bringing with us," he said of the group's upcoming meeting with the governor general.
