Campbell River, B.C. man gets 4-year prison term in 2019 DUII crash that killed 2 Americans, one from Bend

'Utterly appalling ... totally avoidable,' judge says

VANCOUVER, B.C. (KTVZ) – A Campbell River, British Columbia man who killed two members of an American family, including a Bend architect and high school robotics coach, and injured three others in a drunk-driving crash nearly four years ago has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Kyle Rodney O’Callaghan, 33, pleaded guilty Tuesday to dangerous driving causing the deaths of Charlotte Van Valkenburg, 51, of Bend and her cousin, Curtis Bartley, the Times Colonist reported. He also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm to Van Valkenburg’s father, Ivan Smith, and to his own two sisters, the newspaper reported.

O’Callaghan will be barred from driving for five years after his prison sentence is completed.

“I can tell from looking at you right now that you are remorseful,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird told O'Callaghan at the sentencing hearing, but added: “What happened here is utterly appalling, all the more so because it was totally avoidable.”

Witnesses said O’Callaghan, who had been drinking on Sept. 15, 2019, was speeding and driving erratically as he drove his Ford F-150 pickup south on the Island Highway, north of Campbell River. The weather was rainy and the road was wet at the time.

A family of Americans were driving in three cars heading north on the Island Highway, on their way to catch a ferry at Port Hardy, the newspaper said.

O’Callaghan approached a curve at a high rate of speed, lost control and crossed the center line. The rear of his pickup swung out and struck the second of the family’s three vehicles.

A collision expert determined that O'Callaghan was going 65 to 73 mph on the corner.

Van Valkenburg's husband, Dale Van Valkenburg, wrote in a victim impact statement that he met Charlotte when they were in high school and they had just celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary.

Suddenly, he wrote, “The one person who I needed to talk to the most was gone. It was a long and difficult journey to pick up the pieces of my shattered life.”

Later that year, Brooks Resources, the Education Foundation for Bend-La Pine Schools and the Van Valkenburg family announced that they established a memorial fund to honor Charlotte Van Valkenburg. The fund provides financial assistance to high school robotics teams, clubs and programs throughout Central Oregon.