A young mother and her seven-week-old daughter have been identified as the victims of a devastating crash near Glassville, N.B. yesterday.
Kaitlyn Denny, 21, and her daughter, Brianna Rowan, died when their car was hit broadside by a transport truck that was hauling lumber Tuesday afternoon.
"I just kept thinking, it can't be real, it seems so wrong for somebody that young and just being able to enjoy parenthood. She just had a baby," says Denny's former cheerleading coach, Shana Grey. "I just feel for her family and I just couldn't imagine that she's gone."
Firefighters, paramedics and police rushed to the crash scene around 2:15 p.m. but there was little they could do. Denny and her daughter died at the scene.
Police say their initial investigation indicates driver error may be to blame.
"From witnesses at the scene…for some reason the vehicle, either through inattention or otherwise or distraction, turned in front of the oncoming transport," says Cpl. Marty Van Dijk of the RCMP.
The driver of the transport truck was not injured in the crash.
Dealing with the tragedy was difficult for emergency responders, some of whom knew the victims.
That job was made even more difficult when Denny's common-law partner, and the father of the infant, arrived on the scene.
Denny was a former student at Carleton North High School. She was part of the school's cheerleading team for four years.
"Easygoing, would work her hardest, never ever fought with me over anything, anything I asked her to do," says Grey. "She…had a very easy smile and an easy way about her."
"She was a wonderful cheerleader," says former teammate Kayla McKimm. "She would work and do anything that Shana would ask her to and she was good to have fun with."
This was the second deadly crash to occur at the intersection of Route 107 and the Glassville Road in less than five years.
Police say they are still investigating the crash.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
