Leigh Tataryn

Home city: Regina, SK
Age at time of crash: 24
Date of crash: 10/08/1991

It was fall time, the Monday before Thanksgiving 1991. My elder brother Leigh went to work on his day off. Leigh had decided to put up Halloween decorations for the customers. A co worker of my brother’s, a new waitress of just two weeks, was nearing the end of her shift. A little while after she had finished her shift, she asked Leigh if he’d like to go for a ride. She was going to take her friend’s new truck for a spin.

Leigh was well liked in general, and also at work, so it was no surprise that she asked him to go along. The waitress got in the driver’s seat and my brother into the passenger seat. Another male co worker happened to be leaving at the same time as Leigh and the waitress and was driving behind the truck and saw them as they headed out of town and onto the gravel roads. The female driver was going very fast and picking up speed. The truck was swerving and the driver was losing control.

The male co worker that was behind the truck saw the truck brake lights flash several times ahead of him, just before the truck rolled, end over end, eight times and then came to a stop. Tragically, my brother, Leigh was killed instantly. The female driver of the truck was found not to have a valid drivers license. As well, she was twice over the legal alcohol limit. Leigh was found to not have any alcohol in his body.

That Friday was my brother’s funeral. Monday was Thanksgiving. The female drunk driver spent three months in a coma and rehab, then she was fully recovered. She never went to jail.

My parents said there was already enough sadness and that charging her would not bring Leigh back. Some people have disagreed with this decision. I don’t know if I could have done the same as my parents, Christian loving people that they are. It was not the decision for others to make and not for others to judge. I, however, would have liked this driver to have apologized to our family. This is something that has never happened. Our lives have been forever changed.

Every year, Thanksgiving time, holds mixed emotions for our family, and likely will until the end of our lives.

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