A wrong-way highway crash that killed three people in Chilliwack will be the subject of a BC Coroners Service inquest starting on Dec. 8.
The coroner’s inquest will review the circumstances that led to the deaths of Gabriel Johnson Choi, Hasan Khaled Ayyad and Allison Dawn Gilchrist, according to the Nov. 13 release.
Gabe Choi, 35, was a corrections officer who was heading to work in Agassiz on Dec. 29, 2020 in the pre-dawn darkness when a truck heading the wrong way down the highway struck him head on.
The head-on crash killed Ayyad and Gilchrist, who were speeding the wrong way down Highway 1 just past Lickman Road in an attempt to evade police pursuit. Choi sucuumbed to his injuries later that night.
A Chilliwack RCMP officer had first spotted the suspect pickup travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes near Annis Road and police unsuccessfully deployed a spike belt. They continued the chase. At about 700 metres from the Lickman Road overpass, the truck collided with Choi’s vehicle and caught fire.
The day of the crash the BC Coroners Service was notified of the triple fatality crash following an incident that involved the Chilliwack RCMP, and that is part of what led to the inquest.
”On Dec. 29, 2020, the BC Coroners Service received a report advising of three deaths following events involving the Chilliwack Royal Canadian Mounted Police. At the time of their deaths, Gabriel Johnson Choi was 35 years old, Hasan Khaled Ayyad was 29 years old and Allison Dawn Gilchrist was 43 years old.
Part of the function of the inquiry is to: “to make recommendations, where appropriate and supported by evidence, to prevent deaths in similar circumstances; and to ensure public confidence that the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual will not be overlooked, concealed or ignored.”
”The Coroners Act permits the chief coroner to direct an inquest if the chief coroner has reason to believe the public has an interest in being informed about the circumstances surrounding a death, or the death resulted from a dangerous practice or circumstance and similar deaths could be prevented through recommendations made to the public or an authority,” the release noted.
The inquest will run from 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, until Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.
Presiding coroner Carolyn Maxwell and a jury will hear evidence from witnesses under oath to determine the facts surrounding these deaths.
The jury can make recommendations, but not make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law.